Ten Years After
by Kurogane7
Summary: AU: He lost everything after the divorce, even his daughter. With the appearance of new love, will he take this chance to start anew, or will it lead to his eventual destruction? Yuffentine. Rated M lemons later.
1. Solo Act

_**A/N: Gah! Another idea just popped into my head…this is an experiment for a family/romance story, and as usual, this will be a Yuffentine. In this chapter, we see how bad everything is…**_

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Vincent sat in his armchair watching as the movers took everything in his house to pay for the debt that the alimony had racked up. All he had left was a glass of his vintage 1970 Chateau Francois Corel Cabernet Sauvignon, as he had offered the rest of the bottle to the movers before they continued moving his stuff into the truck—with looks of guilt and pity in their eyes when they tried to face him. There was not much point to stop them…after all, she had cleaned him out of everything except his daughter—as he thought back on it, he began to wonder where in the marriage did he go wrong? Perhaps he had failed to time his scheduled performances in the Seventh Heaven correctly so that he could spend more time with her? Did he spend too much time around Tifa and Cloud? What went wrong?

The two movers continued to walk across him still refusing to face him. They saw the dead look in his eyes, and they felt bad for rubbing it in—as if the divorce were not enough, his so-called wife saw fit to take everything in their house lock, stock, and barrel, including his beautiful daughter Minami. They even took his beloved lacquered mahogany grand piano Maria from him, as well as his custom acoustic guitar Alice, both of which are works of art in terms of craftsmanship and sound. The two movers assigned to his case were his drinking buddies in Seventh Heaven, and so they felt like they were betraying him with each object they took—they especially knew from conversations with Vincent that Maria was a birthday gift from his foster father Grimoire before he died. They hoped that the divorce would not affect his playing…he would not be getting good tips if he played horribly, and it would not do Minami any good if he died of starvation when she finds him one day.

"I've had it!" shouted the larger mover dropping the leather couch to the ground, causing his partner to grunt in pain as he lost his balance, and Vincent turned turned his attention to his friends, "I can't take anymore of this shit! Vince! You don't fucking deserve this! I refuse to fucking do this anymore! If it were some other asshole I know that deserved it, I could understand, but you didn't do anything to warrant this! Hell! She should be the one to get the fuck out and pay you back! This ain't fair! You had to go through so much shit already, and now this bullshit comes and happens to you?! To hell with the pay from this job! I'm fucking quitting now!"

"He ain't the only fucking one," yelled his blond friend in agreement, as he dropped the other end of the couch, "in fact, I'm going to fucking quit here and now!"

Vincent stood up, and sighed as walked towards his friends after putting down his glass. "Cid, Barrett, there's no avoiding this. Reeve and I fought as hard as we could, but her lawyer fought better—dirty as it was with all those lies he fed to the jury. I forbid the two of you to quit now, especially you Barrett…you still have Marlene, Aeris, and Elmyra to think about—I refuse to have the four of you starve just because you defended me. And I refuse to let you, Cid Highwind, to give up on your promise to Shera to become a pilot and make her proud. I appreciate your offers to give up your jobs for me, but think about it…if you refuse to do this, not only will you not be paid, but someone else will be sent to do the job instead. If anything, I'd rather you be paid to hurt me more than to die in the streets for me. Besides, I'll be fine…Tifa's offered lodgings to me in the Seventh Heaven."

Barrett and Cid calmed down, but the pain in their eyes towards his situation betrayed the calm atmosphere. "It's not that Vince," Barrett said, "it's just that it ain't fair…that slut two-timed you for her lawyer…and he was the one who got away with it."

"I understand Barrett, and I thank you and Cid for your loyalty to me. But I'll be fine. Just take everything and go; I won't blame you. I just need some time to think."

The two of them had bowed their heads in guilt. They reluctantly went back to work, dragging furniture and loose objects to the truck in the dead of night. As they continued to move, they noted that Vincent had a metal lockbox on his lap as he sat back on his armchair with his wine within reach. They noted that the box was open, and they saw what it was that was in the container: it was beautifully crafted Dan Wesson PPC revolver with an engraved motif of a beautiful woman on its barrel, obviously chambered for the.500 S&W rounds in the box underneath it with his trademark logo chained to the bottom of the pistol grip. "Don't worry…I don't plan on shooting myself…I'm too confused and depressed to even do that now."

With that, Cid immediately shut the lockbox, and took it away from his friend. "It doesn't hurt to be too careful," said Cid as he snapped the lock in place, "but I tell you what…if I think I can trust you with this gun, then I'll let you have it back. Deal?"

Vincent simply smiled sadly. "You have a deal—but while it's in your care, do me a favor and take especially good care of her…that one is a beauty."

"I know…"

It would be another three hours of reluctant moving before the house was finally empty, and Vincent's glass matched the state of the house. It was then that he got back up with his suitcases packed, and started walking. Tifa was waiting for him after all, and with concern in her heart no doubt…

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_**A/N: If you were expecting another chapter of "The Flying Demon", then please wait a bit longer…but otherwise, read and review would you kindly?**_

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_**Songs Played:**_

"_**Obokuri Eeumi"—Ikue Asazaki, "Samurai Champloo"**_


	2. Tifa

_**A/N: We finally meet Minami, and we see how Tifa and Vincent met. And we'll finally get to the story with an encounter…

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Three weeks later…

Vincent was hard at work washing the mugs—quite a few customers were rude to him, but at least Tifa was teaching him a trade. His sworn sister from the orphanage allowed him to watch the art of bartending at work. Advice he could handle, and mixing was a very good departure from his original career as the lead musician for the bar. It had been three weeks since he had been forced to move out of his house in 831 Maple St., and moved on in with his sworn sister that he had decided to take on multiple jobs around the bar—under Tifa, he is training to be a bartender in addition to training up as a shelf; it has been a while since he last took up the hand-carved ebony piano he had affectionately named Helen. As he continued to watch on at the proceedings, he saw a familiar figure walking in—she was short, but even Vincent could recognize that chestnut-colored hair on her pretty little head, and those clear red eyes he had given to her. Minami found her father in the middle of work.

"How was school?" he asked as he continued to dry the mug he was working on, "It was okay," she said, "I made new friends. It was also fun…it's just that…"

The look of concern in his eyes was clear. "What is it princess?"

"I don't like the guy that mommy married—he treats me nice and all, but there's something about him I don't like."

"Does your mother even know you're here?"

"Umm…yes?"

Vincent nodded his head in response to the hesitation in her voice as he put down the mug…this was not good at all. "Minami, you do realize how much she is going to worry."

"I hate mommy! I hate her! I wish she were dead! I don't want to stay with her! I want to stay with you and Auntie Tifa!"

He honestly didn't know what to say as Minami jumped over the counter and pounced on her father in order to grab him in a tear-filled hug; for a moment he let out a breath of relief—he was already in Tifa's debt for living with her, he didn't want to pay for breaking her expensive liquor; Mideelean vodka, Nibelheim lager, even some Del Solian sherry and whiskey. Vincent simply moved his hand to comfort her with slow rhythmic strokes across her hair. "Don't say that…don't say you hate somebody unless you really do mean it. I may be upset with your mother, but I don't hate her, and I don't think you should hate her either."

Minami had paused in her sobbing upon hearing that last sentence. "Why not? Her new husband told those people all those lies about what you did with me! I hate her, so why aren't you doing so yourself?"

Vincent sighed and gently lifted her head to look her in the eye…he was serious, but also gentle with her. "Because to hate your own mother means you hate yourself—whether you like it or not, the truth of the matter is that the two of you share the same flesh and blood as much as you share the same things with me. I don't hate your mother because I love you, my dear little princess…and you'll always be my little princess no matter what your mother does to me." Minami started crying as she continued to hug her father. Vincent sighed as he realized that the whole scene was drawing attention from the patrons…a little girl hugging her dad in a bar was not a common sight—some turned their heads in embarrassment, while some simply looked on and were awed. "You want me to walk you home?" Minami nodded 'yes' with her face still buried in his chest—this is one of the few opportunities that Vincent got to spend time with his daughter.

"Then let me go ask Auntie Tifa if I can get out early. And if you behave yourself while I'm gone, maybe I can mix you something the next time you come back—if you got your mother's permission that is."

"There's no need to ask me," said a voice next to him—it was his sister-cum-boss Tifa watching him with her wine-colored eyes, "you can take the rest of the day off under the condition that my favorite niece gets home safely. But I expect you to work extra hard for me tomorrow."

"Fair enough. Thank-you Tifa…I'll make sure to pay you back for this."

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Tifa watched as her sworn brother walked hand-in-hand with his daughter out of the bar and into the night. Carys, Alice, and Marise can take care of things without him—in fact, Tifa herself would be enough to do the job. What with all the gay and straight patrons making a pass at him and the divorce being finalized, he needs something to take his mind away from the stresses of his life. She remembered the days before he was taken in by Grimoire Valentine…he was happier and more carefree after he opened up to her and took the oath to be her sworn brother.

He first appeared at the doorstep of the "Southern Wutai Orphanage Pagoda of Da Chao" during the geostigma epidemic roughly seventeen years ago as a ten-year-old boy…due to the tattoos on his back and the color of his eyes, it was obvious to Tifa even then that he was from one of the tribes in the eastern end of the country that were independent from the Empire. From the day she first met him after he was found to be clean of geostigma infection, it was then that Tifa noted that he never said a word, but she could tell that he was not a bad person—and so she stuck around him despite the protests of her friends and how they picked on him.

Outside of his then-apparent reluctance for socializing with the other orphans, she noted that he was a rather good listener; whenever she spoke with him, he would not say a word, but it wasn't until she came to how her parents died at the hands of bandits that he finally opened up a creak in the doorway to his soul. The next day, the orphanage was on its last few rations, and the epidemic brought a drought with it from very beginning; he had disappeared from the orphanage with a butcher's knife from the kitchen before he finally returned five days later dragging the fresh and bloody body of a wolf with the butcher's knife in the back of its head impaling the skull and obviously getting the brain from the occipital lobe. He was panting and he was bleeding from scratches he had endured from an apparent battle with the wolf before fainting from exhaustion…it was the first time he spoke when he saw Sister Checkov running towards him and catching him before he landed. "I prayed and said sorry to him."

Because of his wounds, Vincent remained unconscious for the next seven days—but because of his disappearance, he had managed to get food just when the last bowl of rice was served, and it lasted until the epidemic had passed its final stages and it was regarded as a dead disease. After he had recovered and was able to walk, he spent the next few days away from Tifa before he revealed why he stayed away: he had made two necklaces from the claws and the fangs, and he was wearing one of them. "You said you didn't have any family," he then said, "so I'm willing to be a brother to you if you're willing to be a sister to me. As your brother, I promise to protect you, and love you as if you were my actual sister. Do you accept this oath Tifa Aihime Lockheart?"

Tifa didn't know what to say then. She simply smiled and accepted—from that point, they were inseparable, and both wore the necklaces that Vincent had made as a symbol of their oath to being a sworn brother and sister. She still never learned of his tribe and his people—but she never pressed on…she simply let him stay with her before he finally left her and made good on his promise then of keeping in correspondence with her. After Grimoire adopted Vincent, Tifa was taken in by a kindly couple who had raised her well…she attended Edge University of Mc Davis and got a bachelor's in psychology, got training as a barmaid and licensed at age 23, and became happily married to Cloud Strife—a boy from the orphanage she had met before Vincent showed up. He was adopted into the Fair family, and started his own parcel delivery service with his foster brother Zack. Other than that, her life was very good.

Looking back on everything, she was immediately reminded of how life can be so unfair—Tifa had managed to have a happy life with her marriage so far, but Vincent's happiness was relatively brief when he married Lucrecia. Their marriage had lasted a good six years before she found a job as a fashion designer some two years in and dumped Vincent for her lawyer Hojo, and took everything from him except for the clothes on his back and that bottle of 1970 Chateau Francois Cabernet Sauvignon she had given them as a wedding gift. That bitch even saw fit to take her favorite niece away from him…that was a blow that had her sworn brother crying for two days—she didn't blame him; if someone were to take her foster son Denzel away, and she couldn't do anything about it, she would even cry for four days.

It was then that she started to continue her work as barmaid of the "Seventh Heaven" that she served up two mugs of lager and a Bloody Mary, sending Carys to deliver the lagers to table 36, and giving the Bloody Mary to one Latina D. Mina, a regular as of this month…what in the world was she doing here? She also noted that Mina had a friend with her of Wutainese descent chatting away silently…no, it couldn't be…there's just no way…

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Highland Avenue…

Vincent had been giving his daughter a piggyback ride for the last few hours now, and she had fallen asleep on his shoulders. He knew this would happen, and he knew what was coming up as soon as he knocked on that door. He shifted her body up and bent his torso a bit forward before using his right hand to knock on the hand-carved birch door and moving his arms to get a hold of his daughter. The door was opened, and Lucrecia revealed herself behind the door. He didn't bother saying anything; she immediately slapped him upon making eye contact with him.

"How dare you?! You know you're not supposed to be with her! Or are you too caught up in the past to even remember that we're divorced, and she's not supposed to be seeing you without my permission!"

Vincent composed himself, and looked his ex-wife in the eyes before handing her his sleeping charge. "She came to the bar for me. I keep telling her to not come without your permission, but she doesn't seem to want to listen. It's not like Tifa and I spoil her rotten, she just came to spend some time with me. Why are you so anxious to cut me out of her life? I've not done anything wrong…I didn't go out to drink myself into a stupor; I went out to make some money and to learn something."

"Oh yeah? And what exactly did you learn?!"

"Lucrecia…"

Before he could answer, he allowed her to make her slap once more—he knew he could dodge it with his training in special operations, he just chose not to as making her miss would anger her some more. "I don't want you anywhere near my daughter ever again, or I'll sue the hell out of that big-busted, bimbo, macho-freak you call a sister!" It was his turn to slap her…normally, Vincent would be a gentleman and not hit ladies, but nobody insults his sworn sister and gets away with it…and it is with that slap that that message became clear to Lucrecia and she knew that she pushed too far.

Vincent's anger was clear even though he spoke politely and calmly. "I will ask that you do not insult Tifa like that. She is my sister—she may not be related to me by blood, but at least she is the closest I have to a real family. Another word like what you have just uttered now about her, then I'm afraid that there are many ways I can punish you for such an act. You may be the mother of my child, but nobody messes with my real family…am I understood?"

Lucrecia looked at her ex-husband. She hesitantly nodded her head in understanding—she now knows not to mess with Tifa, especially in front of Vincent. With that, Vincent turned around and left the premises. It would be a good half hour of taking the train and walking before he returned, and found the bar in an uproar…

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_**A/N: ZOMG Who is this mysterious person that Tifa had encountered? And what is the uproar in the bar? And why is Latina D. Mina in this chapter? I felt that I should give some of my friendly FFN authors a cameo, and this is my way of thanking Ski October, Alice and Marise, and Latina D. Mina for being my friends.

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_**Songs Played:**_

"_**Piano Black"—Yoko Kanno and the Seatbelts, "Cowboy Bebop"

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_**Vocabulary:**_

_**Sworn brother/Sworn sister—someone that is tied to someone not necessarily by blood but by oath and by close bonding to be your brother/sister by oath.**_

_**Aihime—Tifa's middle name, literally translated as "Love Princess".**_


	3. Looking Up

_**A/N: It appears that things are looking up…we'll see why…**_

_(Supporting Singers)_

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The second he opened the door, Vincent didn't know what to expect—for one thing, the crowd in the bar was getting upset. It was then that he asked himself "Why isn't that pianist here yet? I thought Tifa hired whoever it was to come!" As he glanced around the room, he then saw why it was no wonder that there was such an uproar—most people come to Seventh Heaven to relax, and when there's naught but silence in a musical bar, it tends to bring about an air of awkwardness as if a storm was about to approach. As he continued to watch on, the crowd had started shouting, "We want Vincent! We want Vincent! We want Vincent!" Tifa and her hired help had to uppercut and roundhouse kick patrons that tried to jump over the counter—obviously, those were people who decided to take advantage of the chaos created by the mob, and try to steal her alcohol. And there was one more person there helping Tifa to guard her alcohol… of all the times for Cloud to be out on a delivery and not helping his wife, this was not a good time—but he and Zack did have work to do, so Vincent could not blame him for not being there for Tifa. There was actually no time for this—he snuck his way around the crowd, until he found himself sitting at Helen.

Once he made it to the ebony piano, Vincent tapped on the microphone several times. "Hello? Can anybody hear me?" No sooner than when he said those words than when the noise of the crowd had started to die down. Tifa's savior had arrived. "Carys, Alice, and Marise, if the three of you would kindly come on up to the stage, that would be lovely." The sound of people grunting in pain and "watch it you dumb bitch" and other curse words and insults had echoed out as the three women had finally pushed their way to the stage.

It was then that Vincent pushed the microphone away, and gestured for the three of them to get closer. "I'm going to need some backup singers, or at least to lead the crowd along with the song. Can you do that?" "I can only sing in a karaoke," said Alice, "but I can't perform in front of all these people." Marise nodded her head in agreement—her only experience in singing was presumably only in karaoke as well. "I can't," said Carys, "I even sound terrible when I do karaoke."

Vincent faced Carys. "Then you don't need to do anything…just lip-sync with Alice and Marise, and you'll do fine. I just need someone to help me carry on this tune." He then turned to Alice and Marise. "As for the two of you, just close your eyes, and sing at your best to the beat…imagine that the people aren't in front of you, and you're good to go. All right? Let's go." With that said, the three barmaids walked up to the microphone stand while Vincent moved his microphone closer to him.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, due to some difficulties, I will be playing for you tonight. Lord knows it's been three weeks since I last played for you—and perhaps just one song will help to bring me out of my depression. And for my first and probably last song in a while, I shall be covering a great artist in the history of rock and roll…because like any of you, I want to find my one and only…Somebody to Love."

The crowd cheered for a bit before Vincent started playing the piano, and his voice rang out as he sang the lyrics to the song while Carys, Alice, and Marise backed him up on the first line.

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_Can (anybody find me somebody to love?)__  
__Each morning I get up I die a little__  
__Can barely stand on my feet__  
__(Take a look, take a look in the mirror) Take a look in the mirror and cry__  
__Lord what you're doing to me__  
__I have spent all my years in believing you__  
__But I just can't get no relief, Lord!__  
__Somebody (somebody), somebody (somebody)__  
__Can anybody find me somebody to love?_

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At this point, the crowd was going wild…this was most of the reason that they came to the bar in the first place. When they heard of Vincent's divorce in rumor, they were worried that he may have considered suicide. In the weeks after he stopped playing, other pianists have come and gone, some were good, but in the eyes of the crowd, nobody compared to Vincent's playing. They were his group of loyal fans. And from then on, they started calming down—some just sat down and enjoyed their beers, others got up and danced to the tune as Vincent and his backup singers filled the bar with rock and roll from the band known only as Queen.

Little did he know that two patrons in particular were looking in his direction. In the case of one lady, she was looking at a lot of talent from this very man. As a matter of fact, a real master like him should not be playing in such a small bar as this one when he could be out in the world playing in so many different venues: "The Apollo Dome" of Corel, the basement of "Mick's Galley Seafood Restaurant And Pub" in Costa Del Sol, and even the new Battle of the Bands event she had heard rumor of that was based in the Forgotten Capital…although there is no pianist event that she had heard of there.

The other lady had looked at him in wonder—who was this man that was playing so well at the piano? Her coffee-colored eyes had looked on and analyzed him—well, from what she could tell, he was in fact Wutainese due to his slender and gracile frame, although his height and eye color would probably set him apart from anybody born under the Kisaragi Empire, and so she deduced that he was from one of the eastern tribes. Just who was man that came from her homeland? It doesn't matter—she saw potential in him, and it would be a cold day in hell if she lets this opportunity slip.

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_I work hard (he works hard) every day of my life__  
__I work till I ache my bones__  
__At the end (At the end of the day) I take home my hard earned pay all on my own -__  
__I get down on my knees__  
__And I start to pray__  
__Till the tears run down from my eyes__  
__Lord – somebody (somebody) somebody__ (somebody)__  
__Can anybody find me - somebody to love?_

_(He works hard)_

_Everyday - I try and I try and I try -__  
__But everybody wants to put me down__  
__They say I'm goin' crazy__  
__They say I got a lot of water in my brain__  
__Got no common sense__  
__I got nobody left to believe__  
__Yeah - yeah yeah yeah_

_Oh Lord__  
__Somebody (somebody) - somebody__ (somebody)__  
__Can anybody find me somebody to love?_

_Got no feel, I got no rhythm__  
__I just keep losing my beat__ (just keep losing his beat)__  
__I'm ok, I'm alright__ (he's alright, he's alright)__  
__Ain't gonna face no defeat__  
__I just gotta get out of this prison cell__  
__Someday I'm gonna be free, Lord!_

_(Find me somebody to love)_

_(Find me somebody to love)_

_(Find me somebody to love)_

_(Find me somebody to love)_

_(Can anybody find me) somebody to love?_

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The crowd cheered as soon as the song was over. This was the longest they had gone on without him at the piano. Tifa was glad that the music had finally come—people in a music bar such as hers tend to get testy when there's no music to go with their drinks. When she hired help, she made sure that everyone under her employment could take care of themselves in a fight should that happen: Carys, her chef, was a trained black belt in the Zangan-style karate, although she was of a lower rank compared to Tifa who was a ninth-level black belt; her waitresses Alice and Marise had both practiced in gymnastics before deciding to take up MMA and kickboxing respectively due to the rising crime rate in Midgar; Vincent was a member of Team Turk under the Shin-Ra Special Operations Unit as their resident sharpshooter so that he could pay for tuition at the Edge Musical Institute, and of course there was that time he brought that wolf he killed back to the orphanage during the geostigma incident.

"Who was that?" asked Latina after the crowd was done cheering; Tifa looked at the patron who had asked the question. "That's Vincent Valentine," she said, "my brother by bond. He's played for this bar for quite some time before he decided to take up training as a bartender under my supervision."

The sound of interest in Latina's voice was unmistakable "How long?"

Tifa wondered about this patron. Why so many questions? "How long has he been my apprentice? Oh, for about three weeks now."

"And his playing?"

"For a good four years since he came out of music school to help me out. Why do you ask?"

"I'd like to have a word with him if that's okay with you."

"Well you don't have to ask me…he's right behind you."

Latina turned her head, and almost yelped when she found herself looking into a pair or ruby eyes. "May I help you?" he asked.

She was nervous as she started sweating her head off. He was handsome, and talented. "Umm…yes, my name is Latina D. Mina, and I'm a talent agent. I've just recently set up my office here in Edge. Would you mind having a seat with me while I talk with you?"

"Sure thing."

"Good, that's very good. Um, Tifa, would you mind getting Vincent a drink, it's on me."

"No way! It's on me!" With that, a woman with shortened brown hair had run on up in front of Latina. Her coffee-colored eyes and slender build had revealed to Vincent that she was a Wutainese lady from the Kisaragi Empire. "Yuffie Kisaragi-Edwards, up-and-coming talent agent, I've also got an office here in Edge!"

"Oh no you don't you little bitch! You're not beating me to the punch on this one! I saw him first, so it's my treat!"

"So what? It's not up to you…I've had my sights on him first too you cow!"

"Cunt!"

"Slut!"

"Whore!"

Tifa smiled at her sworn brother—finally things are starting to look up for him. She had hoped for Vincent to get the attention of talent agents for quite some time…not because she didn't want him to leave, but because she wanted his talent to be recognized. He deserved so many things that Lucrecia had cheated him of…that she and that sleazy bastard of a lawyer stole from him—just not these two harpies disguised as attractive talent agents who were filling the air with profanities fighting over him. The cursing had come to the point where she had to slam the empty plastic tray gently on the counter to silence the two women. "Kikuhime or Chateau Francois as usual Vincent?"

She knew from the times that he visited the counter that there's two wines that Vincent would drink most often: one is the Chateau Francois Corel Cabernet Sauvignon which has a hint of strawberry and blackberry, as well as cinnamon mixed into the oak flavor making it a very fine and healthy red wine. The other is the Kikuhime-brand spiced sakè that is made with a fresh-cut ginger root soaking in it and allowing the juices to mix in. "A pitcher of the Kikuhime would be lovely Tifa. I'll pay for it."

"Actually Vincent, I owe you for saving the bar from a riot. And since I don't want any more fighting tonight, this one's on the house." With that, Tifa bowed to her sworn brother, and walked away to find the bottle.

"So, like I said, I've just recently set up office here in Edge—and I was wondering if you would like to be **my** first client."

Yuffie cleared her throat loudly as she sat on the opposite side of Vincent. It was then that Latina glared at her rival with a dirty look in her eyes.

"And it seems I'm not the only one who set up office here."

"What are you talking about, **I** set up office here first!"

"Anyway, we're both new to the talent agent business, and **I** would like it if you were my first client. I'll make sure that you get proper pay for your playing."

Vincent looked at Latina with curiosity. "How much are you asking?"

"Not much, ten percent of your take."

Yuffie tapped Vincent on the shoulder, and beckoned him to bend his head towards her direction, and just in time for Tifa to put the pitcher and the shot next to her sworn brother. "I'll take only seven…and I'll allow you to bring those three with you."

Vincent gently pulled his head back, and faced her while pouring the shot full. "I'm sorry, but they all work for my sister, and they are not really singers. In any case, I'd like to take some time to think about your offers. Now if you don't mind, I have to get back to work—somebody has to wash the dishes. However, I will take some time to consider your offers. You Miss Edwards however, I have a question for you before you leave…would you per chance know a Captain Reno Edwards of the Shin-Ra Special Operations unit?"

"That's my husband, why?"

"If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to go see how he's doing sometime. It's been almost seven years since I last saw the man whose back I've covered so many times."

Yuffie's eyes widened as soon as she heard those last few words. "**YOU'RE** Colonel Vincent 'The Demon' Valentine? Oh he's told me a lot about you…"

"I'm sure of that. You mentioned that you are Kisaragi-Edwards…you wouldn't to also happen to be related to Godo Kisaragi would you?"

"He's my dad—how do you know him?"

"I've only heard rumor that the princess of the Kisaragi Empire had decided to go out into the world and gave her father a heart attack when she chose to renounce her throne to live an ordinary life. Plus I've also heard of you from my sworn sister Tifa here."

Yuffie turned her head, and found herself looking at the woman behind the counter with the waist-length ebony hair—as far as she recalled, there was one person she knew of named Tifa who had those curves. "Tif? Is that you?"

The woman in question turned her head and ran more than excited to chat with her high-school friend. "Ha, I thought it was you Yuffs! How are you doing? Well I know you're married, and you're starting off as a talent agent, but what else has been happening since I last saw you?"

Vincent smiled as he enjoyed his sakè while Yuffie and Tifa started talking. His happiness that his sworn sister had something to add some light to her life went unnoticed, but that was just fine with him…as long as Tifa was happy, he was too. The spicy flavor of his drink was bringing a tingle down his spine as it warmed him up on the inside. Oh how he loves to have his spiced wines.

Yuffie leaned over the counter to get a bit closer to her friend. "Oh just this and that! But enough about me! You're a bartender?"

"Actually, I own this place!"

"Really? That's so sweet!"

"I know! Hey, stay for a bit…I'm dying to catch up with you!"

The sound of a ringtone interrupted Yuffie just as she was about to say something. "Shit! I'm sorry Tifa, I'm going to take a rain check on that, I've got to get home. Reno's got a surprise for me. Maybe I'll see you some other time? And Vincent, do think about it will you?" With that, she skipped off to the exit, leaving Latina D. Mina to curse her luck—she was about to lose a potential client, and that little wench was the cause of it. With that, she got up, and started sulking her way out of the bar—she had lost all hope.

Vincent sighed, and let the tingle of the sakè wash over him on his second shot. Oh how he wished that he would be as lucky as that captain of his, to have a woman as cheerful and happy as her to be his wife—if only he were so lucky as to find that somebody to love. He then poured another shot from the small clay pitcher, and downed the last shot in one go before going back to washing the dishes…

* * *

_**A/N: That's right, I like Queen…and "Somebody to Love" is one of their finer songs in my opinion. I had a hard time remembering the lyrics, so I had to get them elsewhere, kudos to lyrics007. I had to choose a song that would identify with Vincent's current predicament…I promise you that in the future, it won't be on random, and you won't have to ask me to kill the Queen.**_

_**

* * *

**_

_**Songs Played:**_

"_**Somebody to Love"—Queen: Vincent at the Piano**_


	4. Traitors

_**A/N: Seeing Minami at school with two new friends...**_

_**

* * *

**_

The next day …

Vincent walked down the street to find himself at the gates of the school that Minami went to. The pianist had finally arrived last night, and so he was free from playing the piano…he only hoped that he would play at least a decent song—the crowd in that bar tends to be a fan of music, and it would not do to butcher any famous musicians of the past. Thankfully, there aren't too many patrons at the bar in the daytime, so they could probably be a bit more merciful to the pianist at the stage now.

He leaned against a white oak as watched from the other side of the chain fence as Minami played around with what looked like two friends of hers—another Wutainese girl by the looks of it, probably biracial by the flecks of blue in her eyes that he had noticed using his highly-trained eyes and her brother; both were twins from the looks of it. It was good to see that his daughter was happy with friends of her own…before the divorce, the other students picked on her because of her red eyes, and so the only friend she had was dear old daddy. Although from what she said last night, it seemed she was a bit happier than before—she still missed him…a terrible sacrifice that had resulted from a robbery most foul, but at least something good came from the divorce.

As he looked on into their faces, he then recognized who it was that he saw in the twins…it was… "Colonel? Colonel Valentine, is that you?" Speak of the devil and he's sure to appear…for it was none other than Reno Edwards that he saw walking towards him. The man was older, but none of the energy he had seen in the special operations unit had been lost. And walking next to him in a beige hoodie was Yuffie Kisaragi-Edwards.

"Captain Edwards," he said, looking at the pair, and hiding his jealousy well after the two men saluted each other, "what a pleasure."

"Which one is yours?" asked Yuffie looking into the crowd of children, obviously for the twins. It was then that Yuffie found a chestnut-haired little girl that was playing with her twins running towards them. "Daddy!" she said, running towards the gate with the twins, the smile on her face was not one that could be easily faked—she was glad to see her father again, "You're here!"

"Of course, princess," said Vincent as he bent down and looked back at his daughter, with a small smile on his face, "I just wanted to see how you were doing is all. Who are your new friends?" The twins walked up—the sister was the one who spoke up as if she were the one in charge. "I'm Yuri, and this is Jake." The brother, probably the younger of the siblings, had come forward to take a closer look. Vincent poked his middle and index fingers while Jake grabbed them and shook it like he would shake hands. "A pleasure to meet the both of you."

"Are you really Minami's dad?"

Vincent looked to Yuri, and nodded. "That's true. Are the two of you really my daughter's friends?"

"Uh-huh!"

"Do take care of my daughter. She's the only child I have, and I would be sad if I lost my precious little princess."

Jake and Yuri immediately knew what he meant. This time, it was Jake that spoke. "Don't worry Mr. Valentine, we're friends! We'll make sure the other kids treat her nice!"

No sooner than Jake had finished his sentence than when the bell rang and the twins ran off to the steps of the school waiting for their friend. "I've got to go!" said Minami, looking back at her father, "Have a nice day at school Minami," he said, "and promise me that won't tell your mother I've been here to see you today."

Minami had feigned a solemn face, and used her right hand to trace an x-shaped pattern across the right side of her chest. "Cross my heart, hope to die." That smile on her face had returned, and then she ran off to join her friends.

Vincent let out a breath of relief, and sorrow. Relief because his daughter had found happiness from two new friends, and sorrow that he would not be able to see her for the rest of her life. It would seem that he was too preoccupied to hear what it was that his captain had been saying. "Yo Vincent!" he finally heard him say, snapping him out of his reverie to look at the commander, "You all right?"

"I'm fine Reno." He had lied—his heart felt like it was being squeezed upon by an anaconda. His facial features may not have betrayed anything, but Yuffie noted the actual pain in his eyes. The sorrow he had felt was betrayed by the fact that he was very close to crying—however, to her, it looked like he was refusing to let the dam flood out. "Would you like to come home with us?" she asked, with sympathy in her voice.

"There's no need to. I would just…"

"Shit no, Valentine," Reno said, interrupting his superior officer, "I owe you my life, man. The least I can do is help you out! Now you're coming with us!"

Yuffie stood by her husband, with a determined look on her face. "And if you don't, I'll make sure that you won't find work as a musician!" Vincent looked at the two of them in wonder. They were very determined. It would be rude to decline their invitation now…

* * *

6778 Cannon St…

Vincent sat at the living room coffee table with Reno next to him. "What happened to you man?" he asked, "When the squad broke up, I heard that you were going to attend music school."

Yuffie had arrived with a tray carrying three cups of tea. He sighed and picked up his cup and took a sip—it was Tie Guan Yin. "After I graduated with my master's degrees in classical and contemporary music, I married a woman by the name of Lucrecia Crescent, and I started to work with my sworn sister Tifa Lockheart to help her out in her bar. The first two years of my marriage, we lived a modest life, and we were happy—Minami was the result of that love that I had with her.

"However, on the second year into our marriage, Lucrecia got a job as a fashion designer…from then on, things started to go downhill as she became the sole provider of the family. At first, it seemed to be a welcome change because she wanted to help me to pay the bills…but as time grew on, she started to change from the sweet and kindly woman that I had married, the woman I had a very beautiful little girl with, to an abusive wife who slapped me at every opportunity, but I chose to stay for Minami—I was afraid that if Lucrecia did not have someone to turn her abusive tendencies to, she might turn them to Minami, and I could not have that, and in addition to that, there were other things I was not sure she would be capable of doing.

"Eventually, on the sixth year of our marriage, some two months after Minami's sixth birthday, I found out that she had been cheating on me with her lawyer: Hojo Steiner. It was the last straw, and so I immediately went to the divorce hearing in court; my lawyer and friend Reeve Tuesti had fought with me against the two of them—in the end, Hojo played dirty, and managed to move the jury with an outright lie. After that, I was stripped of everything—my house, my possessions, and even the custody rights to my daughter…leaving me with nothing but the clothes on my back.

"It's been three weeks since everything had been finalized…and now, I live with Tifa, and do as much as I can to pay her back for her kindness. Nowadays, when I see my daughter, I'm both happy and sad…happy because I get to see my dear little princess, but sad because it may be a while before I can see her again."

Yuffie looked on at Vincent in pity…what would she do if her twins were taken away from her? "Have you tried to get her back?"

"Custody calling has made it absolute that she can't see me without her mother's permission. But in the past, she's always snuck around and found me…it's not like I occasionally take my time off to go watch her play as well though. And although I can't prove it, I get the feeling that the entire hearing was rigged…as if I was expected to lose…well, what's done is already done. Getting my stuff back won't make me happy, nor would it solve anything, and getting Minami back would be nothing short of cruelty when she's already started making friends here. The best I can do right now is to pick up the pieces, and start over from scratch."

"Maybe I can help you get a foothold so that you know what you want to do?"

"By being your client?"

"That's probably the best option for you at the moment—I'll bet that Tifa's tired of babying you already…and the tips you make while playing for her; you can make much more than that. You're destined for greater things Vincent, don't waste your time on working hard when you can be working smart…you can always get a new start and visit her again."

Vincent took those words to heart while Yuffie took all the cups away while Reno had received a phone call. It was then that he had made his decision: she was right…he needed to move on. With that, he got up to get to the kitchen when he heard Reno speaking in his phone quietly. "No, not now," he said to his cell, "really, Elena, I don't think it's a good idea. Yuffie's here right now, and it wouldn't be good to do it…"

Before he could say anymore into the phone, Reno turned a full 180 degrees around and found himself looking into the eyes of his former commander. "Hang on Elena, the Colonel's here…yeah, **he's** here…the man just got a divorce, and I felt like comforting him…uh-huh…uh-huh…yeah, I know…" With that, Reno handed the phone to Vincent and looking away in shame. "She wants to talk to you."

Vincent reached for the phone. "Hello Elena…it's been a while."

"Colonel Valentine! So good to hear from you again and after seven years!"

"How have things been Elena?"

"Oh fine…I just heard from Reno that you got a divorce…so sorry about that…"

"Are you a doctor now?"

"Yeah…although I've made it up the ranks as head doctor now. But what about you? How's your sister?"

"She's alright. She got married and is happy. Has anything happened with Tseng and Rude yet?"

"Actually, Tseng is working for the government now…I don't know what he does, but he's always hush-hush about it. And Rude stayed behind in the army to serve as a trainer…although whenever he got a day off from the military base, I heard that they still call him up whenever they need a heavy weapons specialist or demolitions expert…the people he was set to train? He said, and I quote: 'the most uncouth little gits I had ever met—in terms of bloody high class and professionalism, nobody even compares to _**him**_.' So I guess he misses you too."

"Listen, Elena, it was good to hear from you again. Perhaps we can get together sometime?"

There was nervous laughter on her end. "Sure thing…I'll see if I can arrange it when Tseng and Rude get out on holiday. Talk to you later."

* * *

"You too. 'Bye." With that, Vincent hung up the phone, and turned his attention to Reno, who was still turning his head away in shame. It was then that he tapped the phone gently against his captain's shoulder to give it back to him that Reno looked at his commanding officer and saw the disappointed look on his face.

"I'm not your father, so I'm not going to tell you what to do Reno," he finally said quietly so as Yuffie could not hear, "and fortunately for you, I like your wife too much as a person to tell her what you're doing behind her back. Whether you come clean about your affair or not is up to you…it's your life, and so it's none of my business. However, I will warn you…if you keep playing with this fire, you'll lose everything in the long run—you'll lose your children, you'll lose your wife, you'll lose everything you hold dear, and it doesn't take a shaman to see how badly this will end for you if you are caught…and believe me, she won't have to lie to the jury to get her way—she'll have solid evidence, and a witness to testify against you.

"Now don't worry about Elena…next time I see her, I'll see if I can introduce her to someone who is single…from the tone of her voice, she seems to really care about you…maybe even love you back. Don't make me be the one to have to implement that promise the four of us made about going after whoever broke her heart, because I really don't want to be the one who has to kill you."

Reno continued to look away in shame as Vincent walked away, and he noted that his face had started to soften as he started discussing something with Yuffie about working with her. It was then that he thought back on his dark words—whenever his former leader says something like that, he means it…however, Reno had his heart split in between two women for the past three years and it was successfully kept under wraps until today. The affair he had with Elena was the relationship in the dark…Elena was smart, funny, and very pretty, but Yuffie had those qualities about her that drew him to her as well. Maybe it was because of her smiles—but then again, Elena also drew him in with those smiles of hers too…maybe he has a smile fetish, hence why he married Yuffie, and those smiles were inherited by their children; oh how he remembered the day the two of them were brought into this world…it brought a smile to his face when he became a father. A few hours prior to her delivery, Yuffie and Reno played the shotgun game…damn it, how does she always win this game? And as a result, Yuffie got dibs on naming the children first. Oh that was a fun day.

Also looking back, Reno knew that this Lucrecia woman was not the first woman Vincent had been with—but she hurt him big time. Why she dumped him for some fuck-ugly lawyer was beyond him…Vincent's appearance tended to have flocks of ladies hounding him from all sides the second they notice his presence. In fact, he didn't have to work as hard as Reno did to charm whatever woman he wanted…they all flocked to him like pigeons to breadcrumbs, and that was one aspect of Vincent that he envied. The biggest thing that he felt sorry for his leader was the fact that he lost everything to one woman…he lost it all to love…and as he thought about it, Reno took a long hard look at the past three years…sleeping with Elena behind Yuffie's back, or leaving Elena to some prick that didn't love her back…the decision was a hard one…Vincent was also telling him one thing silently: sooner or later, the only person who would be admitting guilt to Yuffie for his crimes against her is himself.

Once the afternoon was over in Edge, and Vincent had left to go back to his sister's bar, Reno lay in bed that night with Yuffie cuddling up to him her bare skin was comforting his…with that, Reno felt like shit—no, he was worse than shit…he was so low down the ladder that shit would have been a compliment to him…he did not deserve this beautiful and loyal wife that gave him two beautiful children…he deserved to burn in hell for his own sins…if anyone deserved to be happy, it was Vincent. From a few stories he heard from the man and from the recent divorce, most of his life _**was**_ hell. How he managed to stay cool after so much of the bullshit that befell his friend, Reno will never know…and he considered himself lucky for that…

* * *

Elsewhere…

The desktop was messy, but that was to be expected for Lucrecia. After what she did to Vincent for the past six years, she deserved nothing less than the most brutal tortures anyone could imagine. She knew this—but it was for his own good…he never knew that their meeting was arranged from the start with her cover as a fashion designer; that she had intended to backstab him once she confirmed the powers of his bloodline. But two years into the marriage, she found that she couldn't do it…especially not to her daughter…raising her head from her drunken stupor, she picked up the portrait of herself and Vincent. This was taken a year before Minami was born.

She did not care…she really felt like drowning her guilt away in sorrow. She looked at the document she had published on the shamans of the Wutainese Independent Tribes. The shamans were the holy men and women that held political power at least equal to the chieftains, and were skilled in the art of magic without the use of materia. From what she could understand, every shaman had a higher amount of mako bonded into their blood than a normal human—a relation to the ancient Cetra race perhaps? The shamans always marked their successors with tattoos—usually it is someone who had descended from the shaman in question or that the shaman had chosen to succeed them. According to historical records, every shaman in every tribe had a different ability regarding one aspect of nature—rumor among the tribesmen has it that the shamans could even see into the future, but all agree that a shaman's intuition about a person is rarely ever wrong…which is why her company had funded her research.

From the moment Lucrecia had found Vincent's dossier among surviving Wutainese Tribesmen of the geostigma plague, she knew he was the right one. She talked him up, made love to him, even gave him a daughter—it wasn't until their daughter had turned one that she realized what she was doing…and from then on, she saw the error of her ways, and was disgusted with herself. And although Vincent would not say a word about it, she knew that deep inside, he must have known that she was a liar…there was this air about him that made it sound like he knew something that she didn't…as if he wanted her to keep on lying to him. Why would he want a deceitful bitch like her to carry on an act—no a lie of a marriage? And as she looked into his family tree, it appeared that shaman was definitely in his blood—by his mother's father. Vincent's father however, was a chieftain, thus making him the prince of his tribe…whichever tribe that is.

She simply hiccupped…and then a snarl crept onto her face as she slammed the glass onto her oaken table. As long as she doesn't touch this case again, she won't have to worry about being killed, however, she still has to worry that her employer will see interest in her last project again. Lucrecia had already done enough damage to him already—it's time to pay him back for all the harm she had done…and if it means pairing him up with someone else who could guarantee him happiness, then so be it…but until then, she must bring her 'employers' down if she wants to do him any good.

* * *

_**A/N: Oh my…Lucrecia was only trying to protect him from her employers and Reno having an affair on Yuffie? That wasn't convoluted now was it?**_

_**

* * *

**_

_**Songs Played:**_

"_**Every Heart" by BOA**_

"_**Genome" by Nujabes**_


	5. Finding Out

_**A/N: It appears that things are looking up…we'll see why…

* * *

**_

Two weeks later…

Vincent sat on the stool at the studio recording room, waiting for the director to come and sample his sound. He only had a piano in the room and an acoustic guitar, but that should be enough—piano keys and guitar strings happen to be his best instruments while in music school…although he is well-versed in many instruments, his heart always seems to pick up on stringed instruments the quickest, from the most standard in acoustic guitars to the most exotic ones such as the samisen and koto. Yuffie had finally managed to arrange this meeting with this particular director…Rui was it? If he recalled, Shalua and Shelke Rui were both partners in crime in the music industry—as a matter of fact, this particular company that the sisters have started was known to be the birthplace of many musicians and rock bands…Aeris' birth mother and father, Ifalna and Richard Gast were famous in the music world as the "Ancient Message" prior to their untimely deaths on the road thanks to a convict on the run from the authorities, leaving a three-year-old Aeris Gast, now Aeris Gainsborough, an orphan. The Rui sisters were also responsible for a heavy metal band by the name of "Children of JENOVA"—the singer and leader of the band was an arrogant man with a baritone voice named Sephiroth, while the roles of drummer, bassist, and guitarist fell to his younger brothers Loz, Yazoo, and Kadaj respectively. How these two master directors would take to his music, he didn't know.

As he sat on the stool, Vincent simply picked up the acoustic guitar, and started tuning it. Once he made it to the sixth string, he had finished fine-tuning the guitar the second that Shalua and Shelke had walked in—the two sisters had orange hair, but Shelke, who appeared to be the younger of the pair, had eyes the color of iron while Shalua's eyes were hazel-colored. "Well Mr. Valentine," said Shelke, shaking hands with the taller man, "a pleasure to finally meet you…Yuffie here says that you have shown quite a bit of talent some two weeks earlier that saved a bar—is that true?"

"I've only helped a bit—I've got to give credit to my sister's waitresses for helping me with that song."

Shalua moved in and stood next to her sister. "Is it now? Well in that case, we want to hear your best, so the second we're ready in the other side of the window, we'll give you the cue, in the meantime, get your set ready. Anything you want to play, we'll listen." The two sisters walked out of the white room, and were seen some fifteen seconds later walking into the room on the other side of the window.

"Whenever you're ready Vincent."

Upon hearing that, Vincent knew that was his cue. He moved closer to the microphone with the guitar slung over his shoulder. "For my first song, I will perform a cover…please keep in mind that this is a warm-up." Shalua nodded her head, and waved for him to begin. This was it—he had to start now…with the pick in his hands, Vincent played the first song that popped up on his set list…the tones were relaxing, but clearly the hand of rock and roll at work—

_There's a lady who's sure__  
__All that glitters is gold__  
__And she's buying a stairway to heaven_

_When she gets there she knows__  
__If the stores are all closed__  
__With a word she can get what she came for_

_Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh__  
__And she's buying a stairway to heaven_

_There's a sign on the wall__  
__But she wants to be sure__  
__'Cause you know sometimes words have__  
__Two meanings__  
_

As he played, Vincent closed his eyes and conjured up memories tied to that very song…a while into his dating with Lucrecia, this was the song he played for her before their marriage. The two of them were sitting in the park, and enjoying one of her picnics—to Vincent, this was the song that sealed the deal for him and Lucrecia; the song that brought them together and created a beautiful little girl…however, it would also become the song that would eventually cause him heartache. He knew from his training as a candidate to succeed the shaman and chieftain of his tribe that she was not what she claimed to be—but that didn't matter to him…he knew that deep down under that deceitful and greedy exterior was really a woman with a good heart. Perhaps that was another reason he stayed despite the abuse he had taken: he was hoping for the old her to return to his arms, to make love with him again, and all those years of believing that she was still a good person were not wrong.

While his fingers plucked at the strings, Vincent's thoughts were of relaxing himself after her treachery. This song, although it had a significant tie to the past for him, was still a very relaxing song to him…

_  
__In a tree by the brook__  
__There's a songbird who sings__  
__Sometimes all of our thoughts are__  
__Misgiven_

_Ooh, it makes me wonder_

_Ooh, it makes me wonder_

_There's a feeling I get__  
__When I look to the west__  
__And my spirit is crying__  
__For leaving_

_In my thoughts I have seen__  
__Rings of smoke through the trees__  
__And the voices of those__  
__Who stand looking_

_Ooh, it makes me wonder_

_Ooh, it really makes me wonder_

_And it's whispered that soon__  
__If we all call the tune__  
__Then the piper will lead us to reason_

_And a new day will dawn__  
__For those who stand long__  
__And the forests will__  
__Echo with laughter_

_Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, ooh, whoa, oh_

_If there's a bustle in your hedgerow__  
__Don't be alarmed now__  
__It's just a spring clean__  
__For the May queen__  
_

Listening in on the song, everyone knew that Vincent's cover of this particular song by Led Zepplin showed a lot of promise. Shalua and Shelke in particular had noted how his voice sounded when he sang—it was a baritone, but he timed his tones perfectly to make it clear to the world that this version of "Stairway to Heaven" is his own rendition. If this was him warming up, then they'll be interested to know how well he plays when he gets serious. He was already a master.

Yuffie on the other hand simply listened on and pictured herself living through the lyrics of the song. Yes, with every word that Vincent had sung, she pictured herself looking for that stairway to heaven and buying it. She then had a mysterious stalker of some sort watching over her in her search. She didn't want to leave this journey incomplete—she was going to continue in her fantasy for as long as the song continued to play.

_  
__Yes, there are two paths you can go by__  
__But in the long run__  
__There's still time to change__  
__The road you're on_

_And it makes me wonder_

_Aw, uh, oh_

_Your head is humming and it won't go__  
__In case you don't know__  
__The piper's calling you to join him_

_Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow?__  
__And did you know__  
__Your stairway lies on the whispering wind?_

_And as we wind on down the road__  
__Our shadows taller than our soul__  
__There walks a lady we all know__  
__Who shines white light and wants to show__  
__How everything still turns to gold__  
__And if you listen very hard__  
__The truth will come to you at last__  
__When all are one and one is all__  
__To be a rock and not to roll_

_And she's buying a stairway__  
__To heaven..._

With that, Vincent simply paused as he opened his eyes as he saw Shalua and Shelke staring on at him. He heaved a sigh, and started getting up to leave. "I'm sorry," he said, "to be honest, this is the first time I've ever played in a professional studio—I…" "Oh don't worry about it," said Shalua, motioning for him to stay, "it's just that it is rare that I ever get to hear a master at work. Now doing covers is for warming up you say?"

"Yes."

"Then I'm curious as to see how you play when you get serious. You have any original songs?"

"One or two…"

"Then please play them."

* * *

Meanwhile…

Everything was laid out and correctly planned out. It's a good thing that her contact is at least sympathetic to her cause (at least she thinks he is), and is one of the few individuals that she found to trust with her self-imposed mission of penance. Hojo was a bastard pig—but still an easily-manipulated bastard pig. Oh how she wanted to kill herself just from having sex with him…but still, he was an easy man to manipulate through that act alone—just give him a good night in the bed, and he'll do anything. It was a wonder he ever got laid at all what with his looks and his asshole personality…but since she married him, she may as well keep up that façade that she is happily married to him, and to remain evil to Vincent. One thing that she will never lie about however, is her love for her daughter…aside from Vincent, Minami is her most prized possession in the world even if she hates her mother for what she did.

Lucrecia simply sat at the desk, and kept typing away at reports until she heard knocking at her door. "Come in," she said, still focused on her computer screen. It was then that the clicking and twisting she heard from across the office rang out while the door opened, and in walked her contact. "I was beginning to wonder if you would show up at all."

"It's involving my friend. Of course I would come. It's the least I could do for him from the several times he's been there for me in the army. From what I understand however, we really need to speed this up."

"Why is that Tseng?"

"I took that drawing of the tattoo you gave me and did quite a bit of research, you know, on my spare time? In my search, I found several survivors of the geostigma incident from the tribes. Some of them did not recognize that crest—but after quite a bit more searching, I found someone who could identify the tattoos…from what I learned, the tattoo on his back belongs to a major tribe. In fact, judging by the rumors I heard in the reservation from the ones that could tell me something, Vincent has the potential to unite all of the surviving tribesmen under one leader."

Lucrecia looked at Tseng with a questioning expression on her face. How did this relate to their mission enough to require a catalyst to speed things up faster than a haste-materia could? "How did you come to that conclusion?"

Tseng checked around and saw that the camera was unplugged, and every wiretap was disconnected. It was then that he started to whisper. "Okay, according to the source who told me of this tattoo, she said that this tribe was a very secretive one…they never came out much unless it's for a council with the heads of each tribe in attendance. They are said to have descended from the death god Omega through his son and messenger Chaos, and so they have inherited his red eyes and raven-colored hair; because of these traits, they are referred to as the Kage Tribe."

Lucrecia had only heard rumor of the Kage Tribe…the rumor that Tseng had described about that tribe was what she had already heard of; however, it was also suggested from her studies that whenever the tribes go to war in the light against foreign invaders, it was often the Kage Tribe that is called upon to wage war in the dark hence the Kage in their tribe name. Those tribesmen who were known as the best hunters and warriors of the shadow are rumored to have been descended or reincarnated from someone that was born of that tribe because they are all known to be trained at a very young age to be at least adept in the art of long-range combat and stealth tactics—mostly due to this tribe's reliance upon the hunt to survive. "I've heard quite a bit about the Kage Tribe Tseng, but what happened to them?"

"The old lady first heard that they all died out—the plague wiped out every tribesman. But at the time the hunters went out to find out what happened to all the tribes, they found a different story according to some relatively fresh tracks at the time—a few weeks before the plague had become a dead disease, one single youngster was found to have been out on his final exam as a hunter. When he came back, he immediately ran to the chief's house, fell to his knees disgusted by what he saw, threw up, and got his tracks lost in the forest…whatever happened, he was probably too hurt by what he saw to care where he was going. Eventually, they found the boy's tracks going to an orphanage before losing it again as he went across the ocean. She said that it was probably best that he left—being the son of the chieftain and the grandson of the shaman at such a young age, the hurt was probably too much for him when he saw that his people were dead. She's looking forward to the day that this prophecy would be fulfilled."

"How did that prophecy go?"

"I'm not too clear on it, but I believe it roughly went like this: the last surviving son of a shaman will cross the ocean and return to bring the tribes out of a dark time."

"And what was the name of that orphanage?"

"The 'South Wutai Pagoda Orphanage of Da Chao'."

Lucrecia's eyes widened. That's the orphanage that Vincent had come from! So that would mean that Vincent is the last of his people…and in addition to that, he has a responsibility to be fulfilled…but why did he not cross the ocean to go back to Wutai? Surely he must know—he was in fact a tribesman. But then again, she had another question…she had noted several surveillance photographs of Vincent once or twice…there was more to it than that.

"Tseng, go back to the reservations, and get me a family tree of each shaman in every tribe, and while you're at it, find out more about the Kage Tribe. Deepground seems to be having a great deal of interest in Vincent…the sooner we find out why they are so hell-bent to capturing him, the better."

"Yes ma'am." With that, Tseng bowed, and then left the room.

Lucrecia looked out the window, and started to ponder—she had closed this case on Vincent long ago, sealing the deal with a divorce; what is it that they are after?

* * *

The next day…

Vincent was drying glasses as he stood behind the counter—the pianist playing was a student, he could tell, but she could do better considering she was a novice. Well, this was his last dish to wash, and so he might as well go pass the time for a bit. The second he put down the glass, the door to the bar had opened, and in walked Yuffie Kisaragi-Edwards with tears in her eyes. Whatever it was, he could tell that it would end up with a slap across his face…and he was right.

"Why didn't you tell me?!"

Vincent looked to her, an inquiring look in his eyes. "You know full well what I'm fucking talking about! If you knew already that Reno was fucking someone else behind my back, then why didn't you tell me?!"

So that was what this little tirade was about. "Did he confess to you?"

"No, I caught him in bed with a blond bitch!"

"Yuffie, please understand, and I made this clear to Reno when I caught him the first time. It was not my secret to tell…nor was it my place to tell you what he was doing behind your back. If anyone was going to reveal Reno's secret, it would be Reno himself…I was hoping that he would come clean with you and admit what he did—I did not see him doing this to you…and I expected this least from the person he was doing it with."

"You knew who she was?"

"She was the medic of the team…apparently, she had the hots for Reno while we were together in the team. I told him that I would help her to find a single boyfriend for her so that he could focus more on you…and that I did. It would appear that my efforts to help her were in vain—she's too much in love with Reno to be looking at another man. I'm terribly sorry Yuffie…I was just hoping that Reno would do the right thing and tell you instead of doing what he did."

"Well guess what? You can fucking kiss that contract of yours goodbye!"

With that, Yuffie turned, and stormed on out of the bar…before she could take another step away, she was pulled back into the building by the very man she was trying to avoid—the very man she was angry at for the moment. She struggled and struggled until it became clear that there was no escape—she pulled her hand away from him in anger and stomped her way to the counter as Vincent got to the other end. "Is there anything in particular that you want to drink?"

The look of rage in her eyes had not died down. "Edge brandy…neat." With that, Vincent immediately pulled out the shot glass, and poured it in halfway. Not a cube of ice was in it the second he served the glass with a sigh. "I don't know of anything that can help you at this moment, but I will tell you what I know of Reno from the war," he began, "I can tell that he saw something in you that he really liked. Otherwise, he would not have married you—sure he may be a flirt, and he may be a bit perverted, but he told me himself that when he married, he would be married and be making love to the one woman he truly loved. He really meant it when he told me those things. Now I see you, and I see that he found a woman who really saw all his faults and accepted him for them; who really managed to find a way to get along with him; who truly loved him. Then came the day that I first caught him with his hand in the cookie jar—any man would be ashamed or angry that their friend had caught them in the middle of an inappropriate phone call. When he spoke to her, he had the sound of confusion in his voice along with shame—there were two women that he found himself in love with. One was Dr. Elena Renoir of the local hospital, and the other was you. You might want to give him another chance for the sake of your children—if you feel that things are not working out, you can always leave him, but that's up to you."

Yuffie scoffed, and took a swig of her brandy. "You seem to be pushing hard for him considering all that's happened to you. Don't you hate your ex for doing what she did to you at all?"

Vincent looked on at her. "I will be angry at her for what she did, but I can never hate her. No, to hate her would mean that I hate my own daughter, and I truly do love Minami—she's actually one of the few good things in my life."

"I suppose that makes sense."

"You want me to escort you?"

Yuffie looked on up at the bartender. Something about him made her feel weird…ah, perhaps she'll give him another chance. "I tell you what, if you help me pick up the kids and then drive us home, I'll think about keeping you on contract, how's that?"

Vincent didn't know why, but staying on the contract seemed to be lifting his spirits up—not for the money, but for what, he could not put his finger on. "It's a done deal then. I would really hate for you to be having a DUI ticket."

* * *

_**A/N: Just so you know, if it's not soundtrack music, I tend to also enjoy rock from the 60's to 80's.

* * *

**_

_**Songs Played:**_

"_**Every Heart" by BOA**_

"_**Genome" by Nujabes**_


	6. Immortality

_**A/N: Now we see why Deeground is after Vincent…

* * *

**_

Vincent drove the car for the past few minutes now after picking up Jake and Yuri from school, as well as giving a ride to Minami—fortunately, before the divorce, one of the few things not taken from him was his driver's license; a shame that they had to take his Toyota Yaris, and the custom-built sleek black chopper Cloud had built from the ground up as his wedding gift dubbed "Lady Antoinette". Oh, the pain; the sweat; the expensive parts that Cloud had to go buy…this was seriously not a very kosher thing to happen to Vincent…in fact, that was one of the last things Vincent ever wanted to give away…but the alimony had racked up too much of a debt, and he had to pay for it somehow. Now he's living with Tifa, which was not a bad thing, although he did wish he could have his own home again.

As he continued to drive, he managed to find Lucrecia's house—good, it just so happened that Lucrecia was nearby Reno. "Are you going to come on by again daddy?" asked Minami, looking to him with longing in her eyes after getting out of the parked car, "It all depends on how often Mrs. Edwards here visits the bar in the daytime," he said, "however, if she does come by, I promise that you'll be the first person I pick up so that we can spend some more time together. Is that fair?"

Minami smiled and nodded 'yes'…she really did love her father. With that, she turned and ran to the house, waving Vincent goodbye as both her father and his friend waved back before leaving. After a quick glance at the back seat, Vincent saw that the twins were asleep. "You want me to drive you home?"

"Yeah. I want to have a word with Reno. After you drop us off, you can go…this is something I have to do on my own."

"What are you going to do? I know he does love you…and I know that the feelings Elena has for him are mutual. Just don't pressure him into a decision is all I'm saying…confusing him even worse won't solve anything."

"Seriously, why are you pushing so hard for him?"

"Because I saw how sincerely happy your family was the day I first met your children. I would hate to see you broken up all because your husband was unfaithful and is confused about his feelings for you. After what happened to me, I suppose I want to try and avoid the same thing happening to anybody else I meet…I refuse to sit back and watch it happen—not again, and most definitely not to that person I've met, especially when they have something that you have."

"But what if feelings have developed between either you or the person you're helping?"

"All I can say is that I wish we were born in another life—one where we would have been a family. I at least want to give the person she's tied herself to a second chance before she gives up—but only if I know that the person deserves that second chance. Reno is the kind of man that fits in that category…I know what he did was wrong, but if you give him a second chance, maybe something will work out—go do some marriage counseling if you have to, just make sure you try your very best to keep him by your side before even considering giving."

"It all depends on how my conversation goes with him."

"All too true."

Vincent focused his gaze on the road before him, and continued to drive…

* * *

Somewhere in Wutai…in the ruins of the Kage tribe village…

Tseng had been searching the remains of the village that once housed the mysterious and secretive Kage tribe. Whenever the tribes formed an alliance and went to war, especially during the first encounter with the Kisaragi Empire, it was always the Kage tribe that provided elite warriors to the table—true to their name, they moved like shadows, making them the ultimate in special ops and covert warfare specialists. His own grandfather had told him of his experiences in the war against the tribes; one of the things that the tribes in terms of military advantages had was that their shamans could cast spells without the use of any material spheres, and despite their primitive weaponry, they could still invoke a reign of terror upon their enemies using guerilla and hit-and-run tactics. However, the worst tribe to fear of them all was the Kage tribe as their warriors were all very good at the art of sabotage, assassination, all the things that made them the ultimate in stealth warriors. It was the Kage tribe that caught Tseng's interest in the tribes, and so he sought to study them as much as possible—it came with perks because aside from Vincent, he could now speak in the tribal dialects.

Once he approached the house reserved for the chieftain and his family, he saw something suspicious—armed men were standing guard outside the doorstep…and in addition to that, they were Shin-Ra agents. He also noted that there were men and women in lab coats wandering about the village, and some of them were carrying forensics equipment…perhaps this would be a good opportunity for some questioning; provided he took care of the guards first…

* * *

A month later…at the "New Sound" event held at Hollander's Sports Bar, Midgar…

This was his first-ever concert…his debut to the world of music. Vincent stepped up to the stage with an electric guitar in his hands, overlooking the crowd. He then found his stool, and sat upon it with the instrument placed across his lap after hooking it up to the amplifiers, and moved the microphone in front of his face. Once he tapped three times on the microphone, he got everyone's attention. "I'd like to thank you ladies and gentlemen for coming here tonight," he said, speaking into the mike, "as you may have heard, this is my first-ever performance and my first tour, and so all I ask is for a chance. You don't like it, then you may leave—I won't be offended."

With that, Vincent started his playing. The notes he had struck had lowered the tensions of the stage significantly—even without singing, it was relaxing for the opening with a slow and smooth jazzy beat, and then it gradually transitioned into a fast-paced and heavier rock-and-roll beat. The song in their minds told the story of a man going through tough times, and then finally bouncing up and making it big in the world with a certain turn of events in his life. The slow and jazzy opening took people to the slums where things tend to be very bad, and then the heavy beat that the opening transitioned into was the very change in the life of this poor individual. The ending then transitioned back into a slow and jazzy beat with an air of mystery in it, leaving this story open-ended in the minds of the audience as they saw that once the man had made it big, he found himself back in the slums he had started off in looking once more into the future.

The second the song ended, Vincent got up and bowed to the applause of the crowd and walked off the stage. Yuffie was waiting for him at the curtains, as was Minami and the twins. It was surprising to see how she herself had bounced back up after her confrontation with Reno. In the end, Reno and Yuffie had come together for marriage-counseling as per Vincent's suggestion…it really did help their relationship, and he was sincerely happy for her and the soldier he had saved more than once. However, he could tell from Yuffie's expression that things weren't going well in her mind…what had happened in the past month with Reno?

"You were great!" she said with sincere joy in her voice, the kids had all jumped in happiness as Vincent had walked on over to the four of them. He grabbed the three kids in a hug, and allowed the embrace to last. "The crowd really loved you!"

In the past few years since Lucrecia began abusing him, Vincent had smiled in the presence of his daughter to mask his pain from her—to protect her from the turmoil that he had to go through with his ex-wife. This was the first time in a long time since he had smiled in sincere happiness. It was something that Minami noted, and she finally found a reason to enjoy seeing her father smile as he looked up at Yuffie with a small smile on his face. "Then perhaps I'm fortunate for the good agent. Thank-you Yuffie."

Yuffie looked surprised at his gratitude. Whether he was sincere about it, she was not sure, but what she was sure of was that this was something that she wanted to see more of. After what had happened in the past month, it was the only highlight that she got…something that made her life slightly better in light of Reno's infidelity. The marriage counselor had recommended Reno stop seeing Elena and focus on what he had at the moment if he wanted to keep Yuffie in his life…in some way, it was a good thing for her, but somehow, she didn't feel good about the arrangement and the past few weeks had confirmed it. For the past month, Reno had this distant look in his eyes—whenever they made love, she could have sworn that she saw someone else in those pools of sapphire that she came to love over the past few years. If that wasn't enough, he was distracted by something, and he wouldn't say anything of it to her…likewise, she had never brought it up although she did suspect that it had something to do with Elena. If it was any consolation, Yuffie could tell that he sincerely tried to concentrate on his family, but his happiness was diluted by his confused feelings. She was brought out of her thoughts by a sound from the crowd…it sounded like two parts…as she listened closer, she could hear what it was that the crowd was saying. "Encore! Encore! Encore!" She could not believe it! Her first client, and she got a request for an encore!

"They want an encore!" The sound of happiness was clear in her voice. "Go, get out there and knock them dead!" With that, Vincent got up, and stepped out into the stage with the sound of the crowd cheering the second he was seen. He then picked up the microphone, and faced the crowd. "Thank-you so much for giving me another chance, ladies and gentlemen, I really appreciate it." With that, the audience cheered even louder before dying down gradually. "For the closing song to this concert, and to this event, I will be doing a cover, and dedicating it to the one person responsible for bringing me here! For tonight, I shall be playing a number from Queen!" With that, Vincent started playing the guitar smoothly as he did, and the lyrics began to flow.

_(Ooo. you make me live)_

_  
__Whatever this world can give to me__  
__It's you, you're all I see__  
_

_(Ooo, you make me live now honey)__  
_

_(Ooo, you make me live)_

_  
__You're the best friend__  
__that I ever had__  
__I've been with you such a long time__  
__You're my sunshine__  
__And I want you to know__  
__That my feelings are true__  
__I really love you__  
__You're my best friend__  
_

_(Ooo, you make me live__)_

_  
__I've been wandering round__  
__But I still come back to you__  
__In rain or shine__  
__You've stood by me girl__  
__I'm happy, happy at home__  
__You're my best friend.__  
_

_You're the first one__  
__When things turn out bad__  
__You know I'll never be lonely__  
__You're my only one__  
__And I love__  
__The things that you do__  
__You're my best friend__  
_

_(Ooo, you make me live.)_

_  
__I'm happy, happy at home__  
__You're my best friend__  
__You're my best friend__  
_

_(Ooo, you make me live)_

_  
__You, you're my best friend._

The second the song ended, the crowd gave another round of applause. "Thank-you Yuffie Edwards, and thank-you Midgar!" With that, the light died out, and everyone started leaving.

* * *

Deepground Headquarters…

Lucrecia stood by and waited. It's been almost a month now, and Tseng had yet to come back with his report. Deepground was keeping extremely hush-hush, especially around her, and this did not sound so good. She then pulled out her bottle of 20-year-old single malt scotch from Edge, and a pair of shot glasses in case she had company. Nowadays, she found that the only way to drown her sorrows away was in the shot glass…Tifa sincerely believed that there is nothing in the world that a sip of fine wine, or in this case scotch, cannot fix. She found that it helped, if only to soothe her guilty conscience for what she did to Vincent and Minami—it did not make the problem go away, but at least it calmed her down enough to make her think more rationally upon attaining her penance.

The second she touched the cap to the bottle, the door slammed open, and Tseng walked in looking a bit disheveled before slamming it back closed. He looked like he had gone to hell and back—she didn't blame him when she saw him snatch her bottle of scotch away, and then chug down six gulps of the expensive liquor before falling back into a chair and panting away. "What's wrong?"

"We need to hurry…we need to destroy Deepground now…no, not just Deepground, but Shin-Ra as well…we need to put the rebellion into action before it's too late for the tribes!"

This was going nowhere. Something had stressed this spy out, and it really worried her. She grabbed him by the shoulders, and shook him gently. "Calm down, and tell me what you found out."

"I was going through the ruins of the Kage Tribe's village, and I saw a group of scientists. I talked to them and they told me that they were there to find someone. Then I started questioning them even further as to who they were looking for. Apparently, they were assigned a case file from old man Shin-Ra himself based on a rumor that one of the shamans may have had the secret to eternal youth and immortality. They had the family tree of several people who had descended from shamans, and then they listed only one shaman left, and he was in the Kage Tribe…they also did some carbon-dating on some of the bones that were left behind, and they found that one of the people who had died from the geostigma epidemic was this man who appeared to be in his forties or fifties, and what they found was that his bones were nearly 500 years old and yet they still resembled those of a man of his age. They did a genetic code translation, and found only two people who had shared this DNA…a thirty-year-old woman whose bones were also found on the site, and one other…"

"Who is it?"

As if on cue, a lightning bolt flashed in the background and thunder crashed through the sky the second that Tseng had uttered two syllables that sent a wave of realization up her spine; two syllables that made everything click together in Lucrecia's mind as to old man Shin-Ra's intentions with this case she had closed oh so long ago: "Vincent."

* * *

_**A/N: More Queen…and it's "You're My Best Friend"…and don't worry, I don't plan on using "Don't Stop Me Now" as of this moment.

* * *

**_

_**Songs Played:**_

"_**Marionette Purple" by Daisuke Ishiwatari**_


	7. Reno's Plan

_**A/N: And so now the divorce process finally begins…read and review would you kindly?

* * *

**_

Somewhere over Gongaga, four days later…

The tour was proceeding rather smoothly. Just one more gig, and it will be done…and the next stop for now was in Edge—perhaps now he can visit his friends there while taking a small vacation. Vincent's final stop in the tour however would take him to the Pagoda of Wutai, where he would be expected to play in front of Emperor Kisaragi himself. Perhaps this was the moment where he was to fulfill the prophecy. After this gig, he will retire from the music business, and take upon his true responsibility as the leader of the tribes—his grandfather and his mother told him to leave the Kage Tribe village when everyone else is dead, and to never come back until everyone's hearts have been united in heart and spirit…although it would be likely that it's not time yet; there's no guarantee that the tribes are ready to be consolidated into one nation, and so he'll have to wait for the sign.

As he sat around in the airship bound from Gongaga to Edge, Vincent simply allowed Yuffie to place her head on his lap while their children cuddled up around him—he really didn't understand why kids would flock to him when most grown-ups seem to cower in his presence, or if they weren't cowering, they were making passes or laying silent claim on him. Things must definitely not be going well at home with Reno for her to be doing this. Perhaps another confrontation is in order with the man…perhaps if he could just set this up right, then it would be likely that he'll make this a one-on-one talk with him. But for now, he felt it was his responsibility to be there for Yuffie…she was, after all, going to see her father again, and in addition to that, she was also going to see Reno again. Yes, there will most definitely be another confrontation with Reno in order the second he lands.

He then looked out the window, and saw Nibelheim…the place had a sort of ancient look about it…granted that it developed slowly as compared with the rest of the continents, but still, it was a beautiful place in its own right even though it was not up-to-date technologically, but it was still in communication with the rest of the world. He knew this because this was one of the places that his tour had taken him…he and the new additions to his family had spent the time there admiring the ancient architecture of the place, and even went shopping in the marketplace. To those that don't know any better, they looked like a happy family enjoying the sights of the village. Now that he thought on it, it would appear that they have become a family of sorts…a family to those who have broken homes.

It was unknown to him as to what he was feeling, but he knew for certain that on some level, even through his charade, he cared about Lucrecia. He may have been indirectly manipulating her by letting her think she was in control, but even in the midst of all the deceit they had performed upon each other, he still cared about her to the point of humoring her even after he saw her for the liar she was from day one. Even though he cared, he never felt this way around Lucrecia for certain—it wasn't until he met Yuffie that this feeling in his heart had started to grow. It would seem that even though he loved Lucrecia on some level, she never tugged at his heart strings like Yuffie did now. Perhaps it would be a good idea to talk to her about this after this tour. But in the meantime, he may as well relax, and embrace his newfound family…hold them close…and then slowly shut his eyes again to sleep…

* * *

Edge Airport, the next day…

There was no turning back…while he makes his return, Lucrecia will be taking this opportunity to make amends with Vincent. Although she suspected him of already knowing of what she'd been doing behind his back, it didn't feel right without apologizing to his face before she went to do what it was that she had planned to do. Tseng's revelation about Vincent's lineage had shown her that he was not the only one with the secret to immortality—that secret had been passed on down to Minami, how that secret works, only Vincent knows.

However, this kidnapping that would be taking place in Wutai shortly after the concert would not be Shin-Ra's worst crime of all…no, they've done something much worse in the past, and they would be punished with rebellion for that crime, and that crime alone. Before she could think anymore on it, Lucrecia saw five people walking towards a limousine as she hid behind a corner—one of them was Vincent, and clinging onto his left arm was former princess of Wutai, Yuffie Kisaragi-Edwards. As she looked on upon the group of two adults and three children, she also recognized Minami walking around with twins (she assumed they were Yuffie's children) following her father, and they all had smiles upon their faces. This was what she had wanted to see, but never admitted to herself that she wanted to see—it was such a sight that it was not one that she could afford even if she had all the riches in the world. She wanted to see his smile, and most of all, she wanted to see Minami smiling. As to the limousine, she could tell that he earned it—it was the result of his being a celebrity after all, and it didn't surprise her that he had made it to stardom…in fact, she was happy for him, she really was.

As the limousine drove away, Lucrecia started walking away…she'll be having her word with Vincent soon enough…

* * *

The Edwards Residence, roughly an hour later…

Vincent and the children had gotten out of the car as he had pulled Yuffie out of it. It was the least he could do for her given his lesson in manners courtesy of his foster father. She was giggling happily, clinging onto his arm as soon as she was able to stand up…this was a very good moment for her as she momentarily released her vice-grip on him, and then opened the door to her house and started dancing around in the house. Vincent's nose then picked up on something in the air…being trained at a young age to be able to hunt had sharpened his senses to even be able to see something as subtle as a three-day-old footprint hidden in soft black soil or to even smell the ocean from a mile away. As he analyzed the scents he had picked up, he began to think on what they meant; salt from sweat, men's cologne, women's perfume, disinfectant spray, and semen?

He heaved a deep sigh to calm himself down; oh he knew what he smelled down to the substance—it was the scent of sex and betrayal. It didn't surprise him that Yuffie couldn't smell it, even though she had ninjutsu training as a princess, and it was so subtle that she couldn't sense it. Perhaps it would be a good idea to bring her and the children away from here…set this confrontation up on neutral territory at least, and give that backstabbing bastard and his accomplice in adultery a fighting chance loath as he is to do so, and he especially expected better from his the team's little sister figure. "Yuffie, I'm actually missing Tifa right now," he said out of the blue, causing her to look at him with curiosity, "would you and the kids mind meeting me at the Seventh Heaven for dinner?" "Vince, what's going on?" she asked, concern written all over her face.

Vincent turned his head to see the girls sitting around Jake, putting makeup on his face. He really didn't want to do this. It was then that he moved on in to whisper in her ear. "I just smelled something obscene in this house. I want you to take the kids with you to Tifa, and then we'll discuss it there…meanwhile, I'll call a friend to pick them up for a sleepover. Minami has already had to deal with fighting between me and her mother in front of her, and I'll be damned if I let your children have to deal with their parents fighting in front of them." Vincent saw that pain in her eyes—for a moment, they flashed with anger, and then they were calmed by his reasoning. "I'll handle with the preemptive strike…for you to go up there would not be a good idea at this point. You just get the kids to the bar, and I'll take care of bringing those two over."

Yuffie silently nodded, and turned to the kids with a smile on her face. "Minami, Yuri, Jake, we're going to be meeting someone tonight!" The three kids closed in on Yuffie. "Where are we going mom?" asked Jake.

"I was thinking maybe we could go see Minami's auntie for dinner."

"Auntie Tifa?"

"Yeah! We're going to see her!"

Minami was happy. Although being with her father, she knew that something was up, and so she knew to put up with the act as well. Whatever he smelled, she smelled as well…and what she smelled was not good. She was young, but she was not stupid—she knew that her dad wanted to do something alone, otherwise, he would not have suggested to Mrs. Edwards that they go see Auntie Tifa. With that, she followed the twins and their mom to the car…if daddy said he'll take care of it, then he'll take care of it.

As soon as he saw that the kids were out of the house, Vincent took out his Motorola SLVR, and dialed the number 1-604-892-7766. After waiting for five seconds during the dial tone, a heavy voice sounded out. "Hello, Wallace and Highwind movers, how can I help?"

"Barrett, how are you doing?"

The joy in the large man's voice was clear and booming. "Vince! It's been a while. I'm good. What's up? Hey how's the celebrity life?"

"I'll talk to you about it later Barrett, I've got a matter to attend to right now, and it involves children. Would you be so kind as to pick them up and introduce them to Marlene? I'm sure she'll be eager to have some new friends for a sleepover, and especially to see Minami again."

"Sure thing man—you know I love that girl of yours like she was mine. Tifa's?"

"Yes, they'll be at Tifa's. The woman over there is the mother of two of them…tell her that I sent you—and you may want to bring Marlene over."

"All right then. See you later!"

"You too." With that, Vincent hung up his phone, and then started towards the kitchen. Upon reaching the cabinet under the sink, he searched around until he found what it was that he was looking for…it was a small plastic bucket formerly used for laundry detergent. His next act was to get the four ice trays, and then he filled the bottom of the bucket with ice before adding water to it and refilling the ice trays with filtered water. Vincent then stole up the stairs quietly with the bucket in hand, and approached the room quietly while stealthily opening the double-door to the den wider in order to get a view of the adulterers…were it not for the fact that he caught the two of them in the middle of a most indecent act, he would have called this scene before him cute as both were stark naked, and in each others' embrace and locked in a fierce and passionate kiss.

He knew he needed to act fast—the smell of sex was relatively faint from his location downstairs, but once he entered the room, it was like breathing in the scent of rubbing alcohol straight from the liquid. Elena's up-and-down motions followed by rotating her hips on Reno made him envious of the two, especially with the tightening in his pants at seeing this. And Elena's moans were not helping matters any in Vincent's pants as they were becoming uncomfortable upon hearing each sound from her throat. After managing to snap himself from the sight, Vincent reeled back the bucket of ice-water, and then swung it forward to release its payload upon the traitorous husband and his accomplice in treachery with a cold splash.

"Agh! It's cold! It's cold!"

It was a funny scene; first, Elena jumped off of Reno in panic, slamming her hips into his face with a yelp, bumping her face into the wall, and then the two of them panicked to get themselves in proper order flailing their arms and legs to cover themselves unknowingly giving him a view of their unmentionables, and then confront the pervert who had walked in on them and disturbed them in the middle of their mind-blowing sex session. Reno was the first as he sprung his head out of the blanket. "All right you perv, you…" any other words he would have added to that sentence immediately died in his throat as he choked on them upon seeing Vincent with an amused look on his face. Once Elena popped her head over the blanket, and saw what made her lover choke, she scrambled to cover her very much naked chest with that same blanket.

Vincent's look of amusement then dropped to seriousness. "I'll what Reno? I caught you in the middle of having sexual congress with a woman other than your wife. I'd say that you and Elena here are committing the act of adultery." He then turned to Elena. "By the way, hello again Elena…it's nice to see you again—just not the way you are now…how are the patients?"

"They're good colonel."

"That's good. I want the two of you to get dressed. The three of us are going to see Yuffie. I asked her to give you another chance because I didn't want to see your family fall apart; and now that this has happened, I see no other alternative. We're going to have a discussion with her on what to do now…seeing as you'll cheat on her with Elena behind her back like this while we're gone. I only hope that whatever you say to her will be smart Reno—you and I both know how she's like when she's angry."

The second he left the room, the two of them hung their heads in shame, and they started getting dressed.

* * *

Elsewhere…

This operation had to be done just right. Tseng's update on the preparations were favorable…everyone was ready to strike. It was also fortunate that Reeve Tuesti is among the former Shin-Ra soldiers that owe Vincent a favor for saving his life. At that time, the current head of urban development was a combat engineer and demolitions expert, and his last experience with Vincent had him saved by a headshot aimed at a terrorist looking to tear him a superfluous new behind using a sawn-off double-barreled 12-gauge shotgun. After that moment, Reeve's company and Team Turk had continued to work with each other in the terrorist hunts up until the disbanding of the latter. From then on, Reeve, like Reno, owed him a debt—as between him and Reno, he had been saved from the closest shaves, and in addition to being there for him at his wedding to Shalua Rui.

Lucrecia knew that she could count on him. With his help, the World Regenesis Organization will be out to clean up the mess that Shin-Ra had made. His information on the inside and his organizational skills had allowed the group to plan their assault down to the tee. Upon receiving the code-word, the attack at each of Shin-Ra's overseas headquarters would begin, and then the company would be overthrown. With his knowledge of economics and politics, Reeve would have a head start in making the WRO the ultimate power on Gaia in place of that corrupt company, and then a cleaner energy source would be used from that point on…one that Reeve's sponsored team of scientists had discovered with her help.

As part of the attack group here in Edge, Lucrecia knew that there was a chance that she would not make it out of this alive. She'll have to go see Vincent and apologize to him for everything…and in addition to that, she'll have to confess everything that had been happening. She was never going to get another chance—if she falters…if she hesitates, then not only will the tribes of Wutai suffer a dark age without a leader, but the world would be sucked dry at the hands of a greedy corporation—one that she helped to survive. Not even Tifa will stop her from apologizing to her brother now…

* * *

Seventh Heaven…

Reno had parked the car in front of the bar. It was actually a nice place for a drink come to think of it…so this was where Vincent worked before he struck it big as a musician. He and Elena had discussed the plan together in secret—although it would bring him a lot of pain in doing this, it needed to be done. Now the plan would be put into motion—the two of them knew that it was wrong, but it had to be done. And it would hurt Reno knowing that he would not be able to see his children again, but after this, he knew that they would be in good hands. Hopefully, Vincent would not unknowingly blow this plan in their face again like last time when Yuffie found the two of them in bed together. His wish to keep the family together was well-intended, but he did not realize that this was for his benefit, as well as for Yuffie and the kids, as well as Elena and himself. The two of them prayed that he would not catch on, but knowing their leader, and the analyzing gaze he had upon them, they both knew better than to insult his intelligence—he was not their colonel for nothing after all, and being a good judge of character comes with the package of being a good leader of any sort. They knew that the minute he starts analyzing you, any secret you have would be unraveled without a problem.

They silently walked out of the car with Vincent trailing behind them…analyzing them, and making sure that they don't escape. Although Reno was feeling bad, it was Elena however, that felt the worst because she had set this chain of events off and she knew it. The two of them had trudged their feet against the ground like a chain gang—they were going to be executed all right. And then the door was opened with Yuffie turning her head to look at the trio moving on into the bar and taking a seat at the table. Her seething glare aimed at both Reno and Elena really did melt them like ice. "Hi there, can I…" before Tifa could finish that sentence, she found herself walking in a room with high tension…with that, she ran to kitchen. "Carys? Alice? Marice? How are those tuna steaks coming along?"

Before she could open her mouth to say anything, the sound of the door opening briefly broke the tension at the table, and a young voice called out. "Uncle Vinnie!" No sooner than when Vincent turned his head than when he saw a small brown-haired little girl running up to him and hugging him. "I've missed you!"

"And I you Marlene, where's your dad?"

"Sorry about that," said an older voice, "work just came up at the last moment." Vincent then saw who the voice belonged to—it was Ms. Aeris Gainsborough, a teacher in Minami, Yuri, and Jake's school.

"I suppose he let that foul mouth of his run as usual then?"

Aeris giggled a bit. "And so did Cid."

"We're all set?"

Her smile had dropped for a bit, as she calmed down. "Yeah, I'm taking them away now. I'll have them back in their homes by tomorrow…" She then turned her attention to the kids. "Come on, we're going to have a sleepover tonight!" The four of them cheered and they walked hand-in-hand with Aeris as she lead them out of the bar.

"Well?" asked Yuffie with her glare upon Reno especially, "Have you got anything to say for yourself?"

"No Yuffie. I don't."

That really struck a nerve in Yuffie…to the point where she actually jumped up screamed in Reno's face. "You're not going to say anything?! After almost eight years of marriage? Eight years of happiness, and you're giving up?!" It was at this point that she began to calm down as Vincent held her hand. She then calmly started sitting down and rubbing her head.

"Reno, have you given any thought to the kids? Have you given any thought to me at all? Did you even love me in the first place?"

"He did," answered Elena, "and he still does. If you want to point fingers at anybody Yuffie, the point them at me. I fell in love with him in spite of him being married—and after getting to know you a bit, I realized that I was doing something wrong. Believe me, I really didn't want Reno to be like this."

The look that she shot at her immediately told Elena to shut up.

"Elena's right. I really do love you, and I still love Jake and Yuri, but this was something I never saw coming—I never saw that I would fall in love with someone else. I'm sorry, you have to believe me."

Yuffie sighed and pulled her hand gently out of Vincent's hold rubbing at her forehead. "I really don't know what to say to you Reno…nor do I know how I'm ever going to trust you anymore after this. But what I do know is that you had a second chance—Vincent was nice enough to defend you two thus far, but now, I don't think he can save you Reno. I'm sorry to have to do this…but we're going to have to break up. We're done." With that, she simply walked on outside of the bar. Once Vincent was sure she was out of earshot, he then turned his attention to the two of them.

"Why are you doing this Reno?"

"Huh? What are…"

"Don't even bother lying to me—you know it insults my intelligence. I know you…this is deliberate what you're doing. I know you're not the type of man who would cheat on women you love, and judging from the looks I saw you give Elena in the car, it's clear to me that she's in collaboration with you. I just want an explanation…starting with how long you've been seeing Elena."

There was no way out of this now…it had been confirmed that he figured everything out. Reno then hung his head in shame. "I started seeing her almost eight years ago, and then a year before the twins were born I knew then that I also loved Elena and she loved me back. It's been eating me up from the inside as to me doing what I did…I didn't know what to do at the time. And then I came up with a plan—to make Yuffie hate me as much as possible so that she would have no choice but to divorce me. The problem was that as much as I wanted her to yell at me, scream at me, and hurt me for what I did to her, I still loved her and the kids, and so I wanted to make sure that they were going to be in good hands before I put my plan in action; I tried looking for single men who would do well with Yuffie and the twins, and so did Elena."

Elena then cut in after holding Reno's hand in hers before turning to face Vincent, looking into those scarlet orbs. "We were looking for that man since the day Reno came to me with his plan four years ago until you were invited into Reno's house that day he found you at the school. It was then that you unknowingly became the perfect candidate for his plan."

Reno then lifted his head to look his former commander in the eye reluctantly. "The plan was to benefit everyone in the long run. You were divorced and had everything taken away from you unjustly, and at the same time Yuffie deserved a man who gave her all of his heart and who would take very good of Jake and Yuri; and I also took Elena into consideration because I loved her as well—I wanted to be the one to make her happy. The next phase of the plan, as much as it hurt, was to get the two of you closer together and distancing myself away from Yuffie…thanks to this, the plan is now a success."

Vincent was about to speak before he was interrupted. "Not a word of this is to be said to Yuffie. This is for her benefit, as well as yours. I want her to continue to hate me for her own good…the minute I found out I was in love with Elena, I found that I could no longer give her all of my heart…as long as she continues to hate me, I will be satisfied."

With that, Vincent stood up and towered over his lower officers. "I won't say a word of this then as this is not my secret to tell, but I will tell you here and now that she doesn't hate you. As a matter of fact, she will never hate you—be angry at you? Sure, but hate? No…I know this because I don't hate Lucrecia. I can be angry at her for all eternity for what she did to me, but I will never hate her…just like Yuffie will never hate you because she loves her children and I mine." It was then the shame in Reno's eyes turned into surprise and realization that Vincent turned to get outside the bar to find Yuffie before he paused halfway towards the door. "By the way Reno, if I hear one word that you have broken another woman's heart the way you did, namely Elena's, I will break you into even smaller pieces. And the three of us know how serious I am about this. Other than that, you have my blessings."

Reno then laughed nervously…Grimoire Valentine taught his foster son well to be a gentleman. Not to mention that Vincent happened to be an avid defender of women's rights. So when he says he'll break you into even smaller pieces when you've broken a woman's heart, he will do so unless said woman was actually in the wrong at the time

* * *

_**A/N: Oh dear, it looks to me like the end is nearing…and in a few chapters…

* * *

**_

_**Songs Played:**_

"_**The Singing Sea" by Yoko Kanno: Confrontation with Reno**_


	8. Revelation

_**A/N: Oh my, Lucrecia wants to talk now. What does this mean? Read and review would you kindly?**_

_**

* * *

**_

Vincent stepped out of the bar, and found Yuffie sitting on the edge of the planter…as he took a seat next to her, he noted that she was very sad about this judging from the way that she was holding back tears. "Is there any way I can…" before he could finish his question, Yuffie shifted her weight quickly and grabbed Vincent in a passionate hug as she cried into his chest, letting out anguished moans and sobs while she strengthened her grip.

"Yuffie, are you all right?"

There was no answer; she continued to sob into his chest, allowing his white dress shirt.

He sighed, and gently grabbed her back in a hug, running his hand down her back. There was nothing much else he could do. "It's just…we've been together for so long you know?" she said as her sobs started to lessen, "I just wish it didn't come to this."

"I know. Nobody who is happily married actually wants a divorce to happen. Even I never wanted it to happen. But look on the bright side…at least you now know what to do to keep the marriage to the best of your ability if you decide to try again."

The two of them locked eyes the second she looked deep into those ruby-colored pools with her eyes. There was no denying it…as he felt the beating of her heart in his hand Vincent noted that it had increased in frequency…this was love. She then turned her head to listen to his chest as she moved her hands to accommodate before her pulse started to slow down to an even and rhythmic beat like his. "I don't want to be alone tonight," she finally said, "but I don't want to see Reno either. Can I stay with you?"

Vincent let out a sigh. "I don't see a problem with that. I actually understand…but are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

His eyes started threatening to let tears out. "I'm not pure—I've been scarred by my own past. Surely there has to be…"

"I don't care who you were or what happened to you in the past, nor do I want anyone else Vince. I've not wanted anyone so badly since I first met Reno. So please, don't say anything else. I'm sure…I'm only sorry that I never met you earlier in my life—maybe we could have been better off if we did meet sooner. The only question is…are you?"

Vincent looked back down and saw Yuffie looking back up at him with those coffee-brown eyes. As he thought back on it, it did make sense…no, even though he still cares about Lucrecia, she never made him feel this way—never made his heartbeat increase in speed, nor did she cause his body temperature to rise, and in that moment, he found his answer. "Truth be told, I am sure. I've been sure since the second gig…I was not aware of it myself, and I never knew if you felt the same way at the time. That's why I never came up to you until now about it…I wanted to be sure that I was sure, for you've made me feel something that I've never felt with Lucrecia. Granted, I still care about her, but she never made me feel this good."

* * *

7th Heaven Bar, four hours later…

The patrons were getting rude due to Vincent not being at the piano, and there was no avoiding it—he could tell because the piano player…Cissnei was it? He was not as well-versed in music as both Tifa and Vincent were, but he knew enough that she couldn't compare to his brother-in-law…but Cloud didn't care, he just wanted to see Tifa. He was out on the road for more than two months, and his bike Fenrir was in desperate need of repairs and Tifa was missing her husband. Perhaps now was the time to take a holiday…a week-long holiday…so that he can take Tifa out to a romantic dinner and treat her like a queen…before he took her back to the den…and then treat her like the bad girl she really was on the inside as he pushed her onto the bed and then ripped her clothes off for some hot…steamy…loud…mind-blowing…animal sex…oh yes, the animal sex! It made him hot and hard knowing that he would be taking this holiday to be acting out on all those fantasies he had for his wife!

Oh the sounds that could be heard even from Vincent and Denzel's rooms! The minute his hand was inches from the handle of the door, Cloud began to think back on that last train of thought—oh shit! Vince was supposed to be back today! Oh man, that just killed the mood. Not to mention that Denzel was home! Oh fuck! All those times he wanted to groan in pleasure with Tifa…and it was killed by those two! On the other hand, there was the fact that Denzel had summer school, so there was a good opportunity as the bar is closed during the daytime, and Vincent was leaving tomorrow to go to Wutai for his last gig.

He continued to think dirty thoughts about the dirty things he was going to do to his wife when the two of them were alone…with the whole bar to themselves…and finally getting to spanking her for being such a _bad_ girl. "Excuse me," said a timid voice from the shadows. As Cloud was brought out from his thoughts, he began to actually think—oh he knew that voice all right.

He turned to face the voice in the shadows. "What do _**you**_ want?"

"To talk to Vincent."

"Yeah, right, I know you—Vincent's lecture to me on how to treat a lady proper be damned, what the fuck do you really want?"

"No, no tricks, no demands, no nothing, I just a word with him Cloud, that's it—that's all I'm asking and then I promise you and Tifa will never see me again."

Cloud stared at those hazel-colored eyes in the shadows. He knew how much pain they have caused Vincent over the past, and he didn't trust them, not one bit. With a sigh, he walked closer to the figure in the shadows with venom prepared in his voice to make his hatred of this woman clear…Vincent may be above hating her, but him, Tifa, and the rest of his friends aren't. "Meet me in the alley near the trash cans. I just hope for your sake that he's in a listening mood to hear what you have to say." With that, he walked into the bar…

* * *

It would be a few hours later that the two of them walked back into the bar, just before the first patron set foot into the bar. Tifa fixed up dinner for the two of them, and they both went to Vincent's room for the night. He would not be playing tonight—he needed to rehearse his solo for Emperor Godo. Yuffie found herself looking around in his room while he was in the shower. There was a photograph at his nightstand, sitting next to a lamp—she could make out Vincent and a baby in the arms of another woman, whom she had assumed was Minami in Lucrecia's arms, at around a good six months old. That looked like a happier time for the little girl when her whole family was together. Whatever happened to break them up?

As she looked even further around, she saw a sight that she never thought she'd see—it was a shamisen…a traditional Wutainese instrument associated most often with the independent tribes. From what she remembered being taught, the people of Wutai were originally members of the independent tribes until the Kisaragi banded them all together and formed an empire that would unite the majority of the island nation. Only the independent tribes remained separate from the Kisaragi…starting a tenuous sort of peace between the two cultures. While the Kisaragi were more industrialized, the independent tribes were a little more in-tune with nature, and as such, they had better tracking abilities than most ninja she trained with. This was due to the fact that the tribes had to rely upon the hunt to survive.

"It's not a traditional style," said a voice from the doorway, "the sound is quite balanced though, though I mostly bought it because it reminded me of home." Yuffie turned her head to see that it was Vincent toweling off his long tresses…she was gawking at his form—there were many scars all over his body, many of them obviously lacerations and former bullet holes. As she continued to stare at him, she then noted a sight on his back; it was a tattoo with an abstract drawing of a pair of identical bat's wings covering each of his scapulae parallel to each other. "Can you play that?"

"Everyone in the tribes can play any stringed instrument…as part of our curriculum for our daily lives we are taught music to help us understand the concept of rhythm…to better camouflage ourselves from animals with greater hearing abilities. It just so happens that I favor the shamisen out of every other instrument."

"What songs can you play?"

"Oh, quite a few…but one song in particular, I'd like to save for your father. Do you think you're ready to see him?"

"Well, he would be upset that I had to go through a divorce, but maybe he'll loosen up a bit more around you…him and Reno never really saw eye-to-eye, but they did have a sort of mutual respect with each other. He still wishes that I stayed behind to take his place, but out of respect for my mother, he allowed me to choose my own path."

"That sounds like a good father…what I wouldn't give to have my family back."

"That's right, Tifa said she met you at the orphanage. Do you still remember your parents?"

Vincent's eyes were filled with nostalgia as he continued thinking back. "My mother was a kind woman—and a beautiful one at that. I remember hearing around in the village that I took after her the most, while my father was a very powerful man with the features of a warrior…he was powerful indeed, but not so powerful as my grandfather. My family actually had quite a bit of influence before the plague hit us bad."

"Did any of your tribesmen survive?"

"In the village? No, I was the only one."

"I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry about. You didn't cause the plague, and so there is nothing to forgive."

"Is there…"

Before Yuffie could say another word, a knocking was heard at the door. She then turned to see a man with short and spiky hair the color of chocobo feathers standing in the doorway…she wouldn't be surprised if his nickname was "Spike". "Vincent, would you please come on down? It's important."

"Sure. Just give me a moment to be presentable…I just came from the shower."

"Well you'd best hurry up…_**she**_'s here."

The amount of venom in Spike's voice and the brief pause in Vincent's movements told her enough. It was his ex-wife Lucrecia that was waiting for him.

Vincent then continued to move, finding his clothes quickly. "Where is she?"

"In the alley…I figure, it's best to leave the trash where it belongs."

"I'll handle it—there's no need for you to play the mediator in this."

* * *

Lucrecia sat in the alleyway for the "Seventh Heaven" waiting for Vincent to show. It was a fitting place for her—after all, she _**was**_ in fact trash for all the things that she did in the past…especially to them. She didn't have long to wait—the door opened behind her, and she saw Vincent walking towards the wall opposite of her, and taking a seat on a wooden crate so that he could face her.

"Cloud told me that you wanted a word with me. What is it?"

"Vincent, I came here to apologize to you…for everything that's happened…to you…to Minami…and most of all, for lying to you."

Vincent sighed. "I already knew that." At that, Lucrecia turned to look at him in surprise. "You knew? All this time, I mean…"

"Even from the beginning I was only humoring you…but that didn't mean I didn't sincerely care about you. Although, off the record, you were a horrible actress…you may have had the look of someone going into fashion at the time, but I could barely make out the scent of disinfectant and the stink of other chemicals and substances on your body even under that perfume…and you carried yourself more like a scientist than an artist."

"Why? Why would you even care about someone who hurt you? Who tried to hurt your daughter…our daughter? Why did you even bother with me if you knew all along that I was lying to you?!"

"Because I saw something in you worth saving…when I first met you, I knew that you had a greedy soul, you were deceitful, and you were power-hungry—you desired wealth, fame, and power…all the worldly possessions that man mostly desires. But I saw more than that…I knew then that what I saw upon first meeting you was your mask. You reverted to it in order to protect yourself from the evils that lurk in the world…inside, you are actually a very beautiful soul whose heart was broken by the loss of loved ones starting with your father, Bugenhagen, and then your last love, a man by the name of Angeal. After losing Angeal, you feared getting hurt, and so you built this fortress of evil to guard yourself from another heartbreaking—a fortress you kicked me out of, probably because you still love me. And so I stayed with you not only because I hoped that you would steer your abuse away from Minami, but also because I still saw that side of you."

"What do you see now Vincent?"

"You are lost…you rediscovered the goodness in your heart, and are willing to search for love again…but you have lost yourself because you were stuck for so long in your fortress, and thus, you have lost your path, and are seeking to place yourself back upon it."

"Is that something that your grandfather taught you?"

The surprise in Vincent's eyes at this revelation that she knew his secret had shown, even though he never made any facial movements. "Don't be surprised that I know about your grandfather. Tseng had been helping me for quite some time. I know that you came from the Kage Tribe—the tribe of the shadows. You are the son of Chief Hei Ren Shou, and Ying Lian Hua, the daughter of the shaman Ying Long. Your true name in the tribal dialects is Hei Tian Shi. After the geostigma plague destroyed your tribe and left you as its only survivor, you ran away in sadness where you met Tifa Aihime Lockheart, who would be your sister by bond. Eventually, you came to be adopted by Grimoire Valentine as his son, and you had a good life and repaid your foster father for his kindness by being a good son to him. You then signed up to the Shin-Ra army for the Turks Counterterrorism Unit during the terrorism pandemic. After you used your skills to earn enough money and the pandemic was over, you disbanded the unit, and went to music school. Shortly after, you met me, and the rest is history."

"Very good…although I never did expect to see Tseng helping you out. How was he by the way?"

"He's doing fine—he's currently my double-agent."

"That explains it."

"Vincent, I also wanted to tell you something else—something that will make you question what happened in the past."

There was a look of concern apparent on Vincent's face. "What about?"

"Tseng had also revealed facts about the geostigma epidemic and the events that led up to it: as you probably already know, the independent tribes had been a thorn in Shin-Ra's side since the day they landed on Wutai some two years prior to the events that led to your departure to the orphanage. They were mortal enemies with the company citing that they did not respect nature, and that they sought only to satiate their own greed, keeping vigil over the lines that divided the Kisaragi Empire from the tribal territories. The tribes had attacked any Shin-Ra mining expeditions that had crossed that line—killing only the guards, and destroying the excavation machines and equipment, while leaving those who were unable to fight back alone…it cost the company millions…add the fact that the negotiations to open up Wutai for trade had turned sour, and you have a war against an entire nation. Eventually, the tribes and the Kisaragi Empire had set aside their differences, and driven out the company from the island, making it clear to Shin-Ra that 'no' means 'no'. After winning the war against Shin-Ra, the tribes and the Kisaragi Empire had an alliance in the making…an alliance that was shot down because of one plague.

"Shortly before the peace talks would begin, the leaders started getting weak…and then black spots had started to appear upon their bodies. Before long, many people were infected by this plague known as geostigma, which had caused the deaths of many people, both from the tribes and the Empire. Eventually, Shin-Ra came with a cure, and offered to cure every single citizen of the island nation in exchange for opening trade and for every bit of mako or materia they had. Suffice to say, the tribes and the Kisaragi Empire had no choice but to submit to Shin-Ra's will…I felt sick in the stomach for Tseng then told me that it was Shin-Ra that commissioned Deepground to engineer the plague, and conned the Wutainese people of their land and loved ones. And then I realized—I had been helping these monsters get away with murder! And even worse, according to Tseng, they are developing even more of those accursed weapons!"

Vincent's eyes were filled with shock at this revelation—he was not surprised that Shin-Ra would do this…they were in fact the greedy monsters that his people described them as. What shocked him was that they would even stoop that low at all—and the people actually let them get away with it. His father, his mother, his grandfather, even all of his people—all dead because of the greed of that corporation. It was then that he calmed down and heaved a heavy sight. "What are you going to do Lucrecia?"

"I'm going to go out…and I'm going to kill those murdering fucks! I want to make sure that all the damage that Deepground and Shin-Ra had done will be undone! And most of all, I want to make them pay for what they did to you…and to that woman you now love. I am not telling you to help me…nor am I asking you to assist me. I just wanted to tell you all this before it was too late."

"You're going to attack them soon aren't you?"

Lucrecia didn't say anything. She was going to do it.

"Have you given any thought to telling Minami?"

"There's a good chance that I may not survive this. I want you to tell this truth to her when the time is right…tell her that I'm sorry for everything…tell her that I will always love her…" Tears were threatening to fall and her voice was starting to get choked in sobs at this point. "And I want you to know that even if you never loved me in the first place, although now I know you still cared anyway, that I also love you. Goodbye Vincent…" With that, she ran out of the alleyway with tears staining her eyes. It was then that Vincent watched as she sped around the corner, and he relaxed himself…his eavesdroppers were not doing a good job of being subtle, but he could not blame two of them as they were not that subtle anyway. The third eavesdropper however, was by far the most subtle given her ninjutsu training and he gave her credit, as he didn't hear her heartbeat until after he closed the door behind him. It was then that he got up and walked up the stairs to his room to find Yuffie sitting there on his bed. "Aren't you going to go after her?" she asked.

He simply sat next to Yuffie on the bed. "No. This is not my battle—I know you're angry after learning of what happened to Wutai to sink into to the slums for a while, but the past is the past; there's nothing we can do to change it. This is Lucrecia's fight—I can see in the future that this battle that she will fight is going to make her see her true self; I've only helped to point her to the right direction by being there for her…the rest is up to her, and so she must handle this without me, otherwise, she will forever be lost on the path of life if I do help her."

Yuffie was about to say something before she was interrupted. "But that does not mean that I can't provide some tactical support. Everything she had revealed to me had allowed me to make calculations so complicated that that it would put even the most seasoned of shogi players to shame…something that the shaman in my blood allows. I just need to make a few calls and then…"

Before Vincent could say anymore on the subject, Yuffie quickly turned her body to face him, and then pounced quickly in order to pin him onto the bed with a hug and locking her mouth to his in a most heated and passionate kiss filled with love…nothing but pure and unconditional love. She didn't care who he was in the past—she didn't care what he did…she just wanted him, mind, body, and soul. There was no doubt about it…she wanted to do it…she didn't care about the consequences, and the look in his eyes for her confirmed his love for her. The two of them helped each other to undress…

* * *

_**A/N: For my loyal readers, I will give them a lemon cliffhanger…and start the next chapter with a lemon.**_

_**

* * *

**_

_**Songs Played:**_

"_**Hurricane Suite" by Takanashi Yasuharu**_

"_**The Real Folk Blues" by Yoko Kanno and the SEATBELTS**_

_**

* * *

**_

_**Vocabulary**_

_**Hei Ren Shou—Mandarin for 'Black Patience Hand', this is Vincent's dad, and chieftain of the Kage Tribe.**_

_**Ying Lian Hua—Mandarin for "Shadow Lotus Flower", this is Vincent's mom.**_

_**Ying Long—Mandarin for "Shadow Dragon", Vincent's grandpa, and the shaman of the Kage Tribe.**_

_**Hei Tian Shi—Vincent's name in Mandarin, which is literally "Black Angel". I like that name…because it really does suit Vincent's appearance as a black angel.**_


	9. Betrothed?

_**A/N: Never underestimate the power of pornography when looking to add the heat for romances although the masters can do it simply by implying that the pornography was there (Yeah, I'm an amateur go figure). Read and review would you kindly? Oh yes, and by the way…to Ski October—that lemony cliffhanger in the last chapter was your punishment for not reviewing in a while…and I enjoyed laughing evilly to your plight, ha, ha, ha.

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**_

As the two of them continued to undress each other, Yuffie managed to make it to the button holding together Vincent's pants when he suddenly froze…and suddenly got back up. "Now wait just a minute Yuffie," he said, "I believe we're forgetting something."

"What?"

Vincent walked towards the door, and shut it. "We wouldn't want to get caught doing anything inappropriate now would we? After all, we are still guests."

At that, Yuffie smiled, and giggled lightly. "Yeah…we wouldn't want those two perverts coming on up here and seeing something obscene…"

It was then that his smile sank only a little as she calmed down. "Yuffie, it's been a while since I last made love."

"Oh don't worry, I'm pretty sure you've done this before…"

"Only once."

Yuffie looked to him in surprise…how was a guy as attractive as him unable to get laid? "I made a lot of girlfriends, but we never made it that far…for some reason, a lot of girls I date tend to see me more of the big brother they wished they had. However, Lucrecia was my first and only time…after that, I of course had a lot of people making passes at me…men and women. I really don't know why it is so…because if they're not making a pass at me, then they're staring."

As she looked on at his form under his shirt while he walked on towards her, she blushed. "I wouldn't blame them…you're actually quite a specimen…even though your scars do frighten people a bit, it doesn't stop them from drawing any closer. I should know because it's working on me…now I know why Reno said you attract people without having to try…and you don't even realize it until now! Now that _**is**_ odd."

It was then that Vincent made the first move by slipping his hands around, and then through the opening in the button-down shirt she was moving, moving slowly and smoothly to touch her skin as one hand grasped the back of her head to pull her in while bending his neck down slightly to lock themselves in another passionate kiss, while the other one followed his instincts and started moving downwards—grabbing her by the firm muscles of the left cheek of her buttocks, eliciting a moan as he squeezed and massaged it in a smooth and slow clockwise circle while using his tongue to dance with hers in a slow and torturously gentle fashion, making both desperate for the act of love to come before reversing the direction of the massage. It was then that he stopped massaging her ass, and then he began to move his right hand to stretch to the right side of her abdomen, moving in an up-and-down motion along with her pectoral muscles as she took off her shirt.

His next target was the spinal column as he lightly brushed his fingers up and down along the small of her back while she pulled his head in with a stronger pull, thus guaranteeing an unbreakable kiss. She reciprocated the movements as they came, by moving her body up and down in rhythm with the movements on her back, rubbing her small breasts along his torso—her bra was thin enough for her nipples to feel each and every scar…every depression, and every bump was found as her slid her hand up along his back to grab him by the shoulder plate. The second her hand found its target, she began increasing her movements ever so slightly—before he reached his hand downwards and unclasped her bra in one motion without breaking it. As soon as that act was done, Vincent broke the kiss, and then targeted the next kiss for Yuffie's neck, gently pushing her onto the bed before sucking and licking away at that spot while his left hand grabbed one of her size 36 B breasts gently while massaging it in four clockwise motions, slid downwards past her abdominal muscles, and then finding her nether-lips before finally locating the bud in between them. The second he felt her clitoris, Vincent took his middle finger, and began massaging it with a few up and down strokes, causing her to moan even more in pleasure.

* * *

Little did the two of them realize that there were two perverts in the room next to theirs…with shot glasses pressed against the wall. Cloud was red-faced in embarrassment as he heard Yuffie moaning in pleasure…no, scratch that—he was red-faced, and aroused by the noises coming out of Vincent's room. If only there were a camera in there, then maybe he could pick up on a technique or two. It would seem that Vincent has a natural talent for pleasuring any woman…it's no wonder to him that he is always hit on by both men and women of all ages…from what he could tell that is. Tifa on the other hand was getting a nosebleed. This was most definitely her brother, but she didn't know that she could get perverted thoughts thinking about it—the reason being that they are not related by blood, but by bond, and so it wouldn't be as bad as if it were actual relative-on-relative incest. That still did not change the fact that she was suffering from a nosebleed from perverted thoughts of her sworn brother.

"Well, I think that's enough," said Cloud, gently putting his shot down and whispering quietly to Tifa, "I think a cold shower is in order though…" As he stood up, Cloud realized that his wrist was held in some sort of a vice-grip. As he looked down, he noted Tifa with a look on his face he knew all too well. "No need Cloud," she purred, lust lacing her voice, "not when this bit of pornography has just sparked up something between us."

"But Tifa, we…"

Before he could say anything else on the matter, Cloud was locked in a kiss with his wife…oh he was going to enjoy this. "You've been a bad boy Cloud Strife…and you know what bad boys get when they leave their wives alone for long periods of time?"

"Ummm…spanked?"

"That's right…I'm going to spank you!"

Cloud didn't know whether he should be scared or turned on…with Tifa's strength, a spanking would hurt worse than those wooden S&M paddles. Oh well, hopefully Tifa would be merciful and gentle…

* * *

Vincent's middle finger had been moving in a 2,880-degree clockwise motion for a while now, and then reversing the direction of the massage. After eight more rotations in the counter-clockwise direction, Vincent's hand then bent into a hook-shape, and then he drove his fingers into Yuffie's pussy…causing her to moan as he started slow and then began to increase in rubbing speed. He knew then and there that it was enough when he felt the sliminess of Yuffie's orgasm while she locked his head onto her neck with both arms so suddenly…who would have thought that foreplay was such a powerful sexual weapon, not to mention the amount of carefully-placed fondling that is involved in the process. If that were the case, then that should be enough correct? Wrong…as soon as she found her hands entangling themselves in Vincent's silky raven-colored mane, she gently pulled him off her neck to pull his ear close to her lips.

Her voice was whispered, and brushed past is ear gently but fast enough to set his all of his nerves on fire with the next words out of her mouth, thus overloading his brain with enough dopamine to turn anybody into a junkie. "Fuck me."

He was already hard from his fondling…listening to her cry out for more in each animal moan, but listening to those two words had taken his manhood from the consistency of hard rubber to that of granite. In addition to that, his body temperature had shot up big-time. Before he could continue on, Vincent paused for a moment as he wondered if he was ready to do this again…would he still be able to make love correctly and the way he wanted? Would he be able to trust his heart to another woman? After all, it was in fact a long time since he last bedded a woman with this much love.

As if sensing his hesitation, Yuffie pulled his head gently so as to make eye-contact with him. "Vincent, I've loved you mind, body, and soul since I've followed you from day one in this tour, but I never worked up the courage to tell you how I felt. I was worried that you would reject me because I was with Reno, and you're right…Reno will always be a part of my heart, and he will still occupy a small room in it and so I still have love for him just like you do for Lucrecia. I don't care if you screw up this moment; all I care about is having you in my heart for the good and the bad…all I care about is that you're going to reject me anytime soon…so please Vincent, don't do this to me. Don't hesitate; just let me prove my love to you."

With those words, all hesitation left his mind—the feeling of static electricity he had in his body from his doubt soon dissipated slowly with her reassurance as his nerves were soon flooded with the fiery heat of his instincts taking over. There was no point in starting off hard unless he wanted to lose a woman he truly loved—and he didn't want to do that…no, he'll start off gentle by torturing her some more with foreplay. It was then that he sat astride over her body, reminding her just how much taller he was than her as he squeezed her assets gently and started massaging them in an inward motion eliciting more moans from Yuffie. She could feel his body heat and the electrical surge of more pleasure shooting up her spine and telling her brain to shoot more dopamine as it made her even hotter—at this point, Vincent released his hold on her breasts and grabbed onto her shoulders as she grabbed and massaged her own breasts as they molded over Vincent's cock perfectly as she squeezed and released them in rhythm with his ministrations. Her body was overloaded with its natural opiates before she found herself demanding in an animalistic voice that he move faster and harder; causing him to shoot his load in her face.

At this point, their bodies were covered in beads of sweat as they found themselves wanting more. Vincent started panting as soon as he shot the last spurt into Yuffie's face before she cleaned it off her face, and started covering his manhood and lubricating it with her sperm-covered hands, and causing it to re-harden with each stroke of her hands. It was too much now…Vincent got off the bed, and gave her some room to breathe and spread her legs. But the torture was far from over…Yuffie was expecting him to penetrate her when she felt something else—she felt something rubbing along her pussy lips and all the while tickling her clitoris in an up-and-down motion…Vincent was dry-humping her nice and slow, and she found herself panting and grunting to each up-and-down motion.

"Hmm," he said playfully, "I wonder what I should do with this…"

At this, Yuffie could now tell what he was playing at…he was making her beg…but before she could say anything, Vincent said something else.

"I'm afraid I don't know what to do now…do you Yuffie?"

"Y-y-yes…"

"Oh do you now? Do you honestly know what to do with this thing that is rubbing up and down on you?"

"I…I…I want you to…to…to put it in…"

"Put it where? Be more specific or I won't know what to do."

At this, Yuffie was too aroused and desperate from the torture—she did not believe that his only time was with Lucrecia…nobody who could do the deed of lovemaking as often as he did could be this good. He either had to be a natural or a liar, but looking back on Vincent, there was no sign of deception in his eyes…he had no reason to lie to her. But now, she was too horny to care about that…she just wanted him to stop torturing her and get it over with…and so her voice gradually became higher.

"Put it inside of me…PUT IT INSIDE OF MY PUSSY! POUND ME LIKE A…ah!" She was cut off as soon as he impaled her on his cock with a slam. Before long, he started to move inside of her gently, eliciting a grunt from her mouth every time he pushed in and pulled out. Oh those slow and gentle motions were torturing her as they churned her insides and causing her to suffer from an accumulation of ecstasy that would eventually build up into an orgasm. With each ministration, Yuffie found her hands clenching the bed sheets, and then tightening her grip as her grunts eventually turned into pants. Before long, Vincent had started to increase the speed of his thrusts as he pulled Yuffie's hands into his as they both held the other's fingers through their knuckles.

"Faster Vinnie"

He increased his speed.

"Faster!"

More speed came.

"HARDER!!!"

The force of the thrusts had strengthened until he was spanking her with his waist.

"OH GODS VINCENT I'M GONNA…"

That sentence never needed to be finished as Yuffie immediately let go of Vincent's hands, and then the two of them grabbed each other in a tight embrace with her legs locking around his waist as she let the pleasured scream of her orgasm escape from her throat and into his mouth as they locked in a passionate kiss—thus drowning out the sound of a loud orgasm. The minute she started letting out her pleasure, their motions happened to be so in sync that they came together…the pleasure that Yuffie felt with Reno never compared to now, and what Vincent had with Lucrecia didn't have the amount of love in it that tonight's session had. It was then that they fell asleep while Vincent wearily pulled the blanket over himself and Yuffie…

* * *

The next morning…

Cloud let out a breath of relief as he came back from taking Denzel to summer school…last night's session started after Tifa closed the bar and they found themselves listening in on Vincent getting down and dirty with Yuffie. They weren't stupid…well at least not Tifa whenever she spotted Vincent looking at Yuffie when she wasn't looking. Oh there was something going on between them, and last night proved it…they were both ready to take this relationship to the next level. Although they did feel bad for spying on the two of them, it was worth it as they were prepped for the animal sex to come. Ah yes, the animal sex that he wanted…and with the woman he loved…makes him want to take her again, only this time in the…

"Good morning Cloud," came a voice from next to him. Cloud was still a bit startled, but he was used to it.

"Don't you know it's rude to sneak up on people like that?"

"My apologies. It's just second-nature to me…especially after the army."

"Yeah, I still remember hearing about you in the army though."

"Did you now?"

"At first, when I heard of you in the SOLDIER unit, I thought you were some cold-blooded killer just getting your laughs from seeing your enemies shot down so easily and mercilessly. I heard that you gained the title of "The Demon" because you had the highest kill rate of anyone in the army, especially for special operations; during your tour of duty, you had a total of nearly 5,000 kills with a 100% hit rate, 45% of which are confirmed headshots. Your favored weapon was identified as a .50 BMG semiautomatic sniper rifle, and you had a 95% success rate for all missions. Although a lot of people in the army feared you, you were a standard of professionalism even to all of us in SOLDIER…even Zack used you as a guideline for how he works. However, when I met you at my wedding, and I got to know you, my opinion of you as a cold-blooded killer had changed when I saw the real you."

"Ah, those were the days…when I actually agreed with Shin-Ra for once."

"I thought you always hated Shin-Ra…why did you agree with them?"

"At the time I worked with Shin-Ra, I was serving during that massive terrorism pandemic. The only reason I agreed with Shin-Ra enough to enlist with them was because as much as I hated them, I hated terrorists even worse. The things that terrorists tend to do made me so angry that I enlisted at age 16, and started going up the ranks quickly—I didn't care, nor do I still care, about being in command, I just wanted to make the terrorists stop."

"I see. So it was for a good reason that you joined then."

"Yes."

After a few moments of silence, Cloud then decided to change the subject. "You nervous about your trip to Wutai?"

"Believe it or not Cloud, I'm always nervous. I may not show it because I tend to keep it under control, but I can get nervous just like you."

"So I see."

"How was your night with my little sister?"

Cloud looked at Vincent with surprise and embarrassment in his eyes. "I came from the Wutainese tribes Cloud, I'm trained to notice these things. You and Tifa were not exactly silent last night either. Plus your hair is even messier than before, and you still reek of sex."

"Have you considered detective work?"

"I did, but I found that I loved music even more."

"What are you going to do? And what about those phone calls you were going to make for giving Lucrecia tactical support?"

"For the tactical support, I called in a few favors. I won't be there because I have to be back at Wutai…and so it has all been taken care of beforehand. I just hope that it's right on the dot, because it would be a shame if Lucrecia died before she found out who she was. And to your earlier question, Yuffie and I are going to write up the divorce before we go and pick up the kids and heading to the airport…ah shoot, Reno's meeting us there shortly, and we're pressing on time."

With that, Vincent poured Cloud a glass of milk, and then left the man to his own vices. He then paused for a moment before reaching the stairs. "By the way Cloud, I have a prediction that things will be looking up for you…last night should guarantee that somebody won't be so lonely." As he watched Vincent walk up the stairs, he began to ponder as to the meaning of those words…

* * *

Elsewhere, 3:00 PM…

Reeve sat around in his office, looking at the photograph of him and Shalua on their wedding day. Oh he still remembered that moment…the cake was beautiful, the fact that friends were there, and the man that had saved his life countless times when they were to work together was also there out of respect. What made the moment even more touching was when they had said the two words that sealed the deal. In the spec ops unit, Vincent was known to wear a ballistic face mask to keep his identity, but during the wedding, he did not realize that it was him until he saw his dossier some two days later. During the wedding, it looked like to Reeve that it was a long time since Vincent last smiled, and he didn't blame him…coming from the Wutainese tribes meant a big tragedy for him given that the geostigma plague had wiped out most of his people, and killed millions of people from the Kisaragi Empire; he wouldn't be surprised if Vincent never smiled at all. But on that day, he realized that he had gotten a rare sight of a man truly happy for another man's wedding…even if that particular man left the wedding party with a toast, not saying a word to anyone.

When he learned from Lucrecia about what Shin-Ra had done, it had given him even more motivation to rise up against those bastards. And with two powerful allies, they were sure to win; Lazard had this realization that the world was getting worse because of his family was what made him sympathetic to their cause and Rufus was admittedly a bit more spoiled and much more of a playboy than his older brother, but when Lazard managed to open his eyes to the world at large, he too joined in. However, this was where his respect for the Shin-Ra family had ended; for where the two sons were seeking penance, Ivan Shin-Ra was beyond redemption…he was the one who commissioned Deepground to create the geostigma plague with one simple signature…every Shin-Ra up to Ivan "The Terrible" had ruled with a cold and ruthless iron fist, and they were the ones who had conquered the world. With that one most important signature from Ivan the Terrible, Shin-Ra now owns the whole world.

But with the rise of the WRO, all that was done under the reign of the Shin-Ra family will be undone—all damages wrought upon Gaia's people will be repaired, and the people will no longer live in fear of over-pollution, of skyrocketing crime rates, of terrorism, and most certainly of corruption. And most of all, efforts would go into the healing of the world. With Reeve's political and engineering skills, Lazard's grasp on military tactics and record in the rangers, Rufus's talent in the art of economics and resource management, and Lucrecia's hand in espionage and infiltration as well as research and development, they would be sure to succeed.

Speaking of Lucrecia, she had planned for the attack to happen as soon as Vincent's concert begins tomorrow night…it would be fitting, after all for by the time he is done with his music, he will probably be facing his own people once again…if what he had heard about the tribes was true, then he has a long ways to go before he can fulfill the prophecy and lead his people out of the dark times they are about to face. Indeed, it would be a night to remember…

* * *

Wutai International Airport, 7:00 PM…

Godo sat at the benches near the limousine, watching for the door to open. Wutai had modernized since the day that Shin-Ra opened up trades with them…it had many luxuries that the westerners enjoyed; and although he was a traditionalist, there were some luxuries that he actually did enjoy…such as watching on the telly how a doctor named Richard that loved his patient's lover and had to choose between continuing to pursue Veronica, or settling for a woman named Leticia who had recently confessed her love to him prior to the operation as he was operating on the man. A soap opera was it? In any case, some good did in fact come from opening trades with the evil corporation—advancements in technology and in medicine…more artists coming to show their work…a new dawn was coming, but something was going to darken it, he knew it.

As he looked on at the situation, he knew that the tribes were getting restless. They are near the breaking point for starting a civil war due to their lack of any leaders…and what made them even edgier was the fact that the shaman of the Shika Tribe to the north had died without a successor. Oh, it was bad; when he last visited the reservations after the shaman's death, the tribes had a dead look in their eyes—they had lost all hope. He wouldn't blame them…after all, the plague had taken too many of their number, and if it for his desperate action to save everyone had happened sooner, many of them would have survived.

He also looked back on the history between the Kisaragi Empire and the independent tribes. Ages ago, Wutai was a land divided up into tribal territories…it wasn't until some of the tribesmen decided to band together some 300 or so years ago that the nation of Wutai was formed when the Seiryu said to have descended from Leviathan, and the Da Chao tribes related to the great bodhisattva himself, united with several other smaller tribes to form the Kisaragi Empire. However, many of the other tribes chose to remain independent after the Kisaragi had offered them a place in the empire. That was where tensions between the two nations came about—many of the tribes wanted to remain independent, but all who were in favor with the union of the tribes joined the Kisaragi of their own volition. What brought about civil war however, was the attack on various tribesmen at the hands of rogue bandits—the civil war lasted for nearly twenty years before the two nations drew up a pact that separated them. It wasn't until Shin-Ra's invasion roughly 200 years later that the two nations joined together for a common cause, and an alliance would have been born had it not been for the plague. And now that he remembers what he saw in the reservations, he remembered exactly what he was trying to write that alliance up for…these people have lost all hope. It would take a miracle for them to be strong and proud again.

While he sat back and reminisced on the past, his attention was brought to the soft and pulsating beep of the PA. "Attention…Flight 892 from Edge to Wutai has arrived!" Godo watched as his daughter had walked out of the building with his grandchildren, and a man with long black hair and a little girl with chestnut-colored hair. The second that Yuffie saw her father, she smiled, and ran to her father and pouncing upon him with a hug. "Daddy!" she said, and her twins had followed to hug their grandfather on the legs while the mysterious man had appeared before them.

"Emperor Kisaragi," he said, bowing before him, "it is an honor to meet you…you've aged well since I last saw you."

"Do I know you?"

As if in answer to his question, Godo looked carefully into the man's blood-colored eyes, and gasped in surprise. "You! I was under the impression that all members of your tribe were dead—but it turns out that their prince has survived and returned to his homeland after all."

Yuffie's eyes had betrayed a look of curiosity and confusion in them. How did her dad know who Vincent was, and that he was the prince of the Kage Tribe? "Dad, what are you talking about? How do you know Vincent?"

"Yuffie, this man was the one who was to be betrothed to you…"

* * *

_**A/N: For my loyal readers, I will give them a lemon cliffhanger…and start the next chapter with a lemon.

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**_

_**Songs Played:**_

"_**Endless Love" by Lionel Richie

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**_

_**Vocabulary**_

_**Seiryu—Japanese for "blue dragon", this is one of the sacred beasts in Chinese and Japanese mythology.**_


	10. Buildup to the Assault

_**A/N: Now we see how everything builds up to the final action in the next chapter. Roughly two more chapters before the end...read and review, would you kindly?**_

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Palace of Wutai, almost 15 years ago…

The laughing of a little girl playing in the palace gardens with her mother were heard in the palace halls—Godo was nervous, but the sound of his daughter's laughter was enough to soothe his frazzled nerves. The ambassadors from the independent tribes would be coming soon…apparently from the rumor his jounin ninja had been circulating, the man he was about to meet was the chieftain of one of the lesser-known tribes…not because they were a weak tribe by any means, but because they prefer to work in the dark. He looked on upon the trees in the garden that his empress was sitting around in, watching Yuffie run around like the little ball of energy she was—oh he could tell that she'd be a tomboy for sure; and if she could just take the throne, he'll be sure that she rules with a fair hand. Hopefully the betrothal would be set up properly, but first things first—he must meet the parents of the lucky young boy who would come to marry his daughter one day.

"Sire," said a ninja, landing out of nowhere, "the chieftain and his family have arrived. Shall I show them in?"

"Yes, Genma," he said, "make sure their chocobos are taken care of, and tell them that I will be meeting them in the throne room. In the meantime, see to their comfort—it's been a long trip so I've heard."

"Yes, your majesty." With that, Genma vanished in a swirl of leaves.

As he continued to think on it while finding a seat next to his wife, he began to worry. "Are you worried about the meeting?"

"You always know seem to know when I'm worried. That's what I love about you…"

Empress Shibuki looked at her husband with concern in her eyes—in Wutai, arranged marriages were not uncommon, especially among the nobility and the imperial family themselves, although there were some marriages that worked out without being arranged in the first place. Such was the case with Yamamoto Shibuki, now Kisaragi Shibuki…however, this was not the sort of arranged marriage that was an unhappy union; it was one of those rare circumstances where she actually fell in love with her fiancée in the course of the betrothal. "Just be as accommodating as you can to them…make it so that they know that you're serious about the alliance."

"I don't know…I just get the feeling that something bad is going to happen before the alliance can even be formed."

As the two of them rose from their seats, they began walking towards their destination with little Yuffie following them with proper poise and decorum—a rare sight indeed. "Trust me. Nothing shows sincerity more than courtesy…if courtesy won't work, then I don't know what will. As to your fear…I have that same feeling. I fear that after their beating, Shin-Ra will be looking to get even somehow…so after these talks, we'll have to be extra careful."

Godo thought back on everything so far. From what he had heard, Shin-Ra was the sort of company that would hold a grudge…but it was no use thinking anymore on it…he had an alliance to forge, and new friends to make. Upon entering the throne room, the two of them took in a sight; a man wearing long, flowing robes with dragon designs on them, with a regal look about him—he wore slip-on silk shoes with hard leather bottoms, and pants that resembled the hakama that he wore. The woman by him wore a more effeminate version of his robes with a phoenix motif on the back, and chopsticks held her hair in place. The boy had hair that went down to the back of his scapulae—he wore a changpao coat and the loose trousers that his father wore…it was easy to tell that this boy was in fact the son of the chieftain before him. Standing near the family of three was a taller man wearing a suit of bone armor under a vest with a bone mask in the fashion of a dragon's skull covering his face, and holding a wooden staff with a pair of deer's antlers on top…the very form of imposing that he assumed was the tribe's shaman.

The minute the two families closed in on each other, the interpreter stood by. "Please tell the chieftain that I welcome him to my palace."

The interpreter turned to the chieftain. "Wo de wang di huan yin…" The interpreter was stopped in the middle of the sentence by the raised hand of the chieftain. "With all due respect, there is no need for an interpreter Godo-sama. Despite some tensions between us, sometimes we traded with your merchants as long as they were friendly. I'm sorry for any inconveniences that this may have caused you."

Everyone was surprised to say the least…to think that a man from the independent tribes, a chieftain no less, was able to speak in their tongue; and every bit as fluently as a native speaker too. "Your language was based off the original language, it wasn't hard to tell what words were what. But enough of this…I'd like to get down to business as soon as possible…I'm sure we have much to discuss."

"We do, but I'm very sure that you would have some time to introduce me to these people."

"Certainly…I'd like for you to meet my wife…Ying Lian Hua" Godo bowed before the woman, before the chieftain motioned to the man in armor, "My father-in-law, and the shaman of my tribe, Ying Long." It was then that the chieftain put his hand on the top of the boy's head. "And finally, my son and prince of the tribe—Hei Tian Shi…he will be taking my place as chieftain one day."

As Godo looked on in the boy's eyes, he could tell that this youth had potential in him. The son of the chieftain looked like a prodigy of sorts…had it not been for the fact that his changpao was obviously a masculine garment, he would have mistaken the lad for a cross-dressing little girl. In fact, as he looked even deeper in the red eyes that were characteristic of his tribe, he saw a look of promise—that he may be a great leader one day. This chieftain was lucky to have a son that took after him, although it was clear that he gained most of the genetics from his mother due to the fact that he was a very beautiful child. All that aside, he began to introduce his family. "This is my wife, Shibuki, and my daughter Yuffie." Godo watched as Tian Shi walked up to Yuffie, and bowed low before her and her mother. "It is an honor to meet the Kisaragi royal family."

Polite and gentlemanly…that is how a boy should behave. "Well, all introductions aside, perhaps we can discuss the details of the peace treaty."

"That may be proper, Lord Godo…after all, that is why I came." The chieftain turned to his wife and said with a softened look on his face. "Lian Hua, Tain shi, go wait outside…perhaps take a tour of the palace while you're at it." Lian Hua nodded and brought her son with her—upon studying the body language of her husband, Shibuki knew that she would be spending time with the chieftain's family, and so she took Yuffie with her and started walking away. With that, the three men walked into the office, and sat cross-legged across from each other at the short table on the tatami mats. "So, I trust you have read the details of the treaty?"

"That I have, your majesty. I took the sheet you gave me and presented it before the council…they believe it to be fair—in exchange for opening trade routes between our territories, you will be integrating our armed forces together…we will practically be sharing everything. In addition to that, you will not attack any ground we hold sacred…such as the mountain of Da Chao, nor will you take down our totems, and you will hold them as national landmarks—you will also receive all intelligence we have and will receive, as well as better survival training for your soldiers in exchange for your hand in technology so long as it does not harm the environment. The question that the majority of the council is asking is this; why are you being this nice to us? Don't get me wrong; although I am interested in the prospect of an alliance, and see its benefits, I am of course not blind to the tensions between our people, so why?"

"Because I believe that we've been at each other's throats for too long—our relationship was edgy, but we are still of the same people…although we did grow apart over the years. After the war, I came to see that alone, we are already formidable, but together, we were able to drive Shin-Ra from our lands—but if Shin-Ra decides to seek revenge, then we must stick together…for the sakes of both our people. Besides, I believe that some good will come when we reunite our people aside from what is exchanged in that piece of paper you hold."

The chieftain looked on at Godo as if analyzing him…and after detecting no lies, he simply smiled. "If that's the case, then you have an avid supporter. The council has sent me here to determine the sincerity of your offer—and so I must apologize for my inherent suspicion of you…I've had to deal with very horrible treacheries in the past."

"It is understandable that you would think that…and so it is forgiven. On a different subject however, and out of curiosity, I've heard this other rumor that…"

"Not in my line. It only applies to my wife and her father, as well as our son as they all have the blood of shamans coursing through their veins. True, shamans can become immortal, but only if they choose to be, and it is a well-kept secret as to how it is. But that other secret is kept even further in the black than that one…so please, I must ask that you do not ask of it anymore, as it is not my secret to tell."

"So you're saying it's not a myth?"

"No. It's not." This time it was the shaman that spoke. "And it seems that my grandson has inherited this secret…he knows of it, and he knows not to say a word of it. I will not elaborate the details of it, but I will tell you this; if fate has bestowed this secret was upon him, then it seems that our great ancestor has big plans in store for him…and so, with all due respect, I shall end this conversation."

There was an awkward silence between the three men for three minutes before the chieftain spoke. "Anyway, going back to our earlier business, the council said that they need some way of confirming that the deal is solid and so they believed that an arranged marriage with your daughter would suffice." Godo sighed as he knew that this would be a subject of the debate. He also knew that the tradition would not allow the two fiancées to meet for a while if they chose to marry the Kisaragi Empire's way. "Who is the lucky little boy?" It was then that both the chieftain and the shaman looked on at the emperor. As soon as he met their eyes, he immediately knew the answer. "Does he know?"

"No. The council decided that in order to foster better ties with you and your people, we would allow you to determine whether you wish for the arranged marriage to be happening in your way or ours. Until then, we are going with your way…after all, this has never happened before, and they decided to give you the honors of choosing the way to approach this since you are the father of the bride…provided you agree to this arrangement of course."

Godo was a bit happy upon hearing that he got to choose. But then he also sighed. "Very well then; we will do this our way. We will not tell them of the marriage until they are at least seventeen, and then they will reunite and marry by age nineteen."

The chieftain smiled and bowed before the emperor. "Thank-you your majesty. I will leave in two days to relay your response to the council." With that, the chieftain and the shaman rose from their seats, and turned to leave…he then watched as the two men left—obviously to find the boy and his mother…

* * *

Present time…

"It would be shortly after that when the plague hit, and the arrangements were null and void as most of your tribesmen had died, as well as several of my people—my wife included," said Godo, ending the story as he sat in front of his daughter and her former fiancée, "and then I had to deal with those Shin-Ra dogs to get the cure. And here we are—perhaps if we had agreed unite our people sooner instead of three hundred years later, or maybe if we had refused Shin-Ra from the very beginning, we would not be in this situation. To be honest, I figured you to be a good husband from your character, and so I expected you to meet the deadline to winning my daughter's heart—ironically, you managed to find each other, and have found love for each other even though you've said your wedding vows to someone else and had a very beautiful girl out of it."

"I don't get it Vince," she said, "if you met me before, why didn't you say anything before now?"

Vincent smirked. "It's because I didn't want you to see me simply as a prince of a dead tribe…I wanted you to actually get to know me…just as I got to know you. And the more I learned of you Yuffie, the more I loved—but I will tell you this…everything you've seen of me has been true thus far. Now that you know, what do you think of me now?" He didn't expect the hug that came about.

"I told you before that I didn't care who you were before. I just care about who you are now. I just want you."

He had expected quite a few things, but never this. There was nothing much that Vincent could do except hug her back with long rhythmic strokes along her back. He didn't care that the children were watching, and that Godo was gazing upon this sight. He just felt that he had to return Yuffie's love somehow as the limousine drove them to the palace…

* * *

The next day…Outside the Shin-Ra headquarters, 3:00 PM…

Reno didn't understand why Vincent came to him with these instructions…although since he asked Elena to come along, he couldn't complain. After signing the contract for divorce, Vincent slipped two sheets of paper and a small envelope into his pocket. The second they found the run-down hotel, as the letter addressed to them had specified, they went up the stairs and started to find hotel room 910 which was reserved for them. As they entered the hotel room, they saw that it had a very good view of Shin-Ra headquarters through a polarized window, even to the point of getting a good vantage point from above the president himself. It was then that Reno followed the directions on the letter.

"Elena, go check under the bed…there should be a suitcase there."

Elena nodded, and did as she was asked, and lo and behold, there was a sleek black suitcase with a combination lock sitting on the bed. "The code is 666." With that, Elena turned the numbers to the combination, and opened it in order to see its contents: to her surprise, it was a disassembled bolt-action semi-automatic sniper rifle chambered for .50 BMG rounds in the clip underneath the stock with the name "Elizabeth" engraved upon it, and a 12x sniper rifle scope to be mounted on the back of the gun as well as a spotter's scope. There was no doubt about it…Vincent had chosen this place for a reason—what for, the two of them could only guess, but whatever it was, it required the two of them to work together, given that Elena was the only other available option as designated marksman should he be unfit for duty as she was the second-best shot in the team with Vincent being the best.

What got their attention however, was a small manila folder with the words "Hunting Season is Open" written in Vincent's handwriting across the folder. In the unit, they used the code words "Hunting Season is Open" to denote to babysitting missions where all enemies about to kill the target of protection being the hunted. Elena opened up the manila folder and found the photograph of their protection target: it was Lucrecia Crescent-Valentine…as well as an envelope addressed to her, as well as a list of more instructions…

* * *

Shin-Ra headquarters, 5:00 PM…

Everything was well-prepared…the troops were in place…and every sleeper agent from every unit that Shin-Ra's army had with a grudge against that fat, lecherous, old fuck was up and ready to attack at a moment's notice. Before Lucrecia could continue with signing off a report, she heard something from behind her door…a laugh…an annoying laugh…an extremely annoying, yet familiar laugh. Oh she knew who laughed like that, and quite frankly, that slut is a part of her kill list—going up the corporate chain by letting many men into her legs…seriously, how is it that she doesn't get sick from screwing too many men? It's a good thing that Vincent never met this woman—she was sure that even he would have a hard time declining her invitation to her bed. As a matter of fact, that evil bitch of a secretary always got away with everything because she has even the president wrapped around her finger…a finger that she had heard once or twice being used to pleasure herself when there was nobody around to do the job.

Oh, this was not good at all…if Scarlet was here, then that meant that old man Shin-Ra wants to speak with her. The second the door opened, Scarlet revealed herself—she had a body that any woman would kill for; it was a shame that her inner beauty didn't match up. Another thing that Lucrecia hated most about this woman was that sickeningly sweet grin plastered on her face. "The old man wants to see you. He wouldn't tell me why…but for some reason, I know you're in for it…Lucy-Lu…"

It really irked Lucrecia that Scarlet called her that name—and unfortunately, Scarlet's leg-opening services were not limited to men. No, she also seduced women, although her preferred targets were lesbians…and it really didn't help it any that she was also a bisexual which would explain why she enjoys it both ways like the whore she really is. Lucrecia let out a heavy sigh, and got up from her seat to leave the room. As she walked through the hallways towards the main elevator, she began to wonder—what did Ivan Shin-Ra want with her? She may as well find out—but in the meantime, she saw Reeve in the middle of the hallway, walking opposite of her direction…it was a good thing that she picked up on subtlety from when Vincent snuck his way around her and laying those oh-so-comforting hands on her…the way he massaged all of her erogenous zones during the good days when she was pretending to be an honest wife to him…the way he made her want him even more with those strong hands fondling her…ah she'll be missing those pleasures that she received from him, but never deserved. In any case, she shoved poor Reeve into the wall, and proceeded to punch him in the face—continuing her assault by sitting astride of his chest, and beating him in the sternum.

As soon as she calmed down, "There, I feel so much better." With that, she gently got back up, and pulled her victim up. "I'm sorry about that Reeve, but whenever I run into Scarlet, I get this urge to beat something up you know?"

"Don't worry about it. That laugh of her annoys me too…hell, I'd even start mauling you if she laughed like that in front of me. In any case, I'll just get to the hospital and then all is forgiven…you have a good day Dr. Crescent."

"And you too Mr. Tuesti." As the two of them walked away, Reeve knew why she started that fight—true, even he would start a fight when Scarlet was involved, but there was another reason for that fight…a reason he will not unveil just yet…on the other hand, Lucrecia found her way to the elevator, and pressed the button for the top floor…

* * *

Meanwhile, at the Palace of Wutai…

The whole thing was to be broadcasted to all of Wutai—it was a good thing that many of the tribesmen also had radios and televisions now…otherwise, he would not be able to send the word out. He was stressed as always prior to any concert, but Yuffie has always been there to watch him play…but that was not what stressed him out the most—it was the fact that the independent tribes are listening in…he was hoping this very concert may bring them all together…at least light up their spirits. He knew the ramifications if he failed, and so he cannot afford to screw up even one note…he must play at his best if he is to reunite his people together under one banner, and bring the independent tribes together again.

As he looked back on earlier in the day, he found Yuffie sleeping in the same bed as him with her arm draped over his chest…their latest session in lovemaking had found them in an awkward situation when he saw Godo opening the door and seeing his daughter naked and with this man who was about to play in front of the whole country. But surprisingly, even though Godo had a blush on his face at the time, Vincent could have sworn that the man was smiling as he closed the door behind him. It wouldn't be until the afternoon that Godo confronted the man about his intentions with his daughter and gave him his blessings should there be a marriage in the future after the divorce is finalized—for even he saw that this love between the prince of that dead tribe and his daughter was meant to be, even if the two in love never saw how true it was.

As he looked on into the balcony, he saw Yuffie and the children sitting near the emperor himself. They were all waving at him with smiles on their faces…there was no doubt about it…even if he failed this concert, even if he doesn't succeed in this endeavor, he'll always have them in his life, just as they shall have him. And so with a heavy sigh, Vincent walked on out of the curtain, and took a seat at the piano provided to him by the emperor, and checking to make sure that the strings on his shamisen were properly tuned…finishing by getting the microphone in front of his lips…

* * *

Shin-Ra Headquarters…

After three minutes of waiting, she finally arrived at her destination before walking towards the desk with the president standing near his finely-made fireplace with a shot of 1988 House Mikhail Mideelean vodka…a drink that the old man favored given his background in Mideel.

"Can I help you with a drink doctor?" he asked, politely. "No thanks," she answered, returning the manners as she sat down, hiding her anger for the man, "vodka is not my sort of drink I'm afraid. Also, I would like to take care of the business I have with you at the moment as soon as possible if you don't mind."

"Oh, no problems then, I suppose it's good to have such a diligent worker…however, I'd like to ask you a question; do you believe in gods Dr. Crescent?"

"No…I believe in reason—if you can prove it exists, then it exists. That's my belief."

"An atheist eh? Well then, I suppose it's good…however, what if I told you that I've found a way to hold the power of a god in my hands?"

"I wouldn't believe you. In any way you put it, gods are myths created by man to try to explain the phenomenon of nature about him. That is where science comes in—we can prove that gods do not exist."

"Well then I suppose that you are going to eat your words upon what I'm about to reveal to you…I'm very sure you're well-versed on the myths and legends of ancient Wutai?"

"Yes. I studied it as an extracurricular activity during grad school…it was only a hobby however, so I don't know what you're getting at."

"Look, let's not play games…I know about your intentions of treachery towards me, and so since you're about to die, I find it fair to tell you what I'm actually looking for. Actually, the word should not be 'what' so much as it should be 'who' I'm looking for. And the who I'm looking for is your ex-husband."

"I know. My agent has already told me of this."

"Oh, he told you of what it is that I was after, but he got the answer wrong. No…as appealing to me as immortality is, I'm afraid that we cannot synthesize the gene from him…we've tried, and are still trying to find the answer to that. No, immortality is only a side project for me…what I want is something much more practical…much more powerful…and that is the power of the gods themselves!"

"You're crazy!"

"Am I? Then let me tell you a story. Now Omega, the god of the dead and rival of Hades, had a son known as Chaos, which I'm sure you already know…anyway, one day, Chaos was flying around the world, making his daily patrol to guide the souls of the dead back to dear old dad when he was netted down by a trap—a huntress had mistaken him for a dragon, only to see that she had a demon ripping out of that snare single-handedly instead. Chaos was of course peeved that this had happened, but being the gentleman that his dad had taught him to be, he let it slide due to it being a mistake. Little did they realize that that one moment made it so that they could not forget each other…and so the met each other in secret—confessing to each other their secrets whenever Chaos made his rounds in Wutai for a year now…until the huntress was killed in an epic battle against a Bahamut that was attacking her tribe. Chaos implored his father not to take this soul, and his father, being an understanding man, allowed his son to bring this woman back to life under the condition that he gets a grandchild and that Chaos becomes mortal. And so it was agreed, and the two lovers did the naughty deed—giving out a son…the first shaman of the Kage Tribe."

"Like I said before, this is mythology. Surely you don't believe in such fairy tales."

"Ah, but who said that this was a fairy tale? If mako is what the gods are made of, then why do you suppose the Cetra are born with an extremely high mako count—the same count that is seen in the shamans of the Wutainese Independent Tribes? Anyone else with that amount of mako in their blood is sure to die from poisoning and is immediately dissolved into the Lifestream. And there's more that I found out about Vincent Valentine, otherwise known as Hei Tian Shi to his people that is an even more well-kept secret than the fountain of youth…two genes if you will; one that does not correspond to any known person outside of the Kage Tribe and one that triggers a mutation at will and allows him to transform back while still keeping his mind! That's right; all people related to Vincent Valentine by his grandfather are the avatars of Chaos himself! And once he is in my power, and my scientists have studied enough of his genetics, I will have an army of demigods under my control, then Wutai will fall and the whole world will bow before me as a god!" As Lucrecia looked on at this man, she realized that he was insane…she was horrified at the lengths he would go to in order for ultimate power—but the look of horror on her face soon melted away when she heard alarms blaring…

* * *

_**A/N: I figured that in this story, since I'm basing the Kisaragi Empire's clothing on Sengoku Basara-era Japan, as well as the Tokugawa shogunate, I decided to base the independent tribes' clothing on Qing Dynasty-style clothing and older…that's right, I'm basing the independent tribes' culture on ancient China. As to the chapter itself, I apologize if anything is wrong...it's just that when I get close to the end, I tend to try and make everything as perfect as possible.**_

_**

* * *

**_

_**Songs Played:**_

_**"The Clandestine Dark Suits" by Takeharu Ishimoto: Reno and Elena prepping up.**_

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* * *

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_**Vocabulary**_

"_**Wo de wang di huan yin…"—this is literally Mandarin for "My emperor welcomes…"**_


	11. The Downfall of ShinRa

_**A/N: One more chapter to go…and then the series ends. It's been a pleasure so far…but all things must come to an end someday…**_

_**

* * *

**_

Mako Reactor 5…Gongaga…

The guards were sitting around, playing poker. All was quiet—albeit too quiet…exactly the kind of silence that would be a prelude to an ambush. The reactor was safe…but for how long? Oh well, it wouldn't be long until their rotation begins. Before they could think anymore on the sudden silence, an explosion rocked the barracks killing the guards, followed by a hailstorm of assault rifle fire that killed the rest of the soldiers. The entire barracks was filled with enemy infantry, followed by some men equipped with swords and heavy machine guns…they are the sleeper agents of the WRO. A trooper equipped with a submachine gun pressed the button on his headset. "This is Rude, contacting Cait Sith, come in Cait Sith."

The voice on the other end of the communicator responded. "This is Cait Sith. What's the status report Rude?"

"All foxtrots down and we've taken the entrance. What are your orders?"

"Proceed as planned. Any other tango you see, light them up…do not kill the civilians."

"Roger that. We are Oscar Mike!" The commander then turned to his army with his sunglasses masking his eyes. "All right mates, you bloody heard the man, proceed as planned. Wedge, how are we with the det. packs?"

"They're looking good. I've four blocks of C-4 ready to go."

"That's good—more than enough for what we're here to do."

"Rude, we're getting multiple contacts heading our way…looks like the tangos just woke up."

"Crikey, this situation's going down worse than prawns in a barbie! All right then…fire teams Alpha and Bravo, you're with me—we need to guard Wedge so we're taking point. Charlie you're on our six. Delta, Echo, and Foxtrot set up some C-4 outside and hold position here. We're on a bloody tight schedule here mates, so let's get this sodding mission done good and proper like the fucking professionals we are. If I hear any complaints, you blighters are going to meet the business end of me revolver, savvy? Now let's go, time's a wasting! Go! Go! Go!"

"Hoo-rah!"

With that, Rude and fire teams Alpha and Bravo ran down the halls of the base with Charlie following…

* * *

Shin-Ra HQ…

"Sir, we're getting reports of attacks at all the military bases guarding our mako reactors," said the adjutant over the radio, "as of this moment, we're not going to hold them for much longer…although it looks like they're clearing the interior of the bases…"

The look on Ivan Shin-Ra's face was filled with rage. "What do you think you're doing Dr. Crescent?"

Lucrecia simply smirked as she looked on at the old man's face. "What I should have done long ago…handing you punishment from the gods you so believe in. I've failed Vincent as a wife by lying to him and for everything I've done, I've failed myself as a human being, but I am not going to fail in protecting my daughter from you, you lecherous old fuck!"

Her last remark was met by a backhand that threw her to the ground. Shin-Ra stared on upon the woman as his anger started to burn a hole through the carpet she was on.

* * *

Mako Reactor 4…Midgar…

"Frag out!"

"Cover me, reloading!"

"Tangos on our three…they're trying to flank us!"

The sound of war filled the air as the firefight raged on. Many of the WRO resistance fighters were getting cut down as they were ambushed as one member of the resistance threw a fragmentation grenade out from cover while the other loaded a fresh new magazine into his assault rifle. Their commander Colonel Lazard Shin-Ra was with them holding position as they were getting pinned down by turrets and automatic rifle fire. "Colonel, there are more tangos heading our way. We'll be overrun in about five minutes…we can't hold them for much longer!"

"Stand your ground soldier. We need to hold for as long as possible…we can't let what's going on in the planet continue…it's so important that our lives at the very moment are nothing compared to the future generations we are helping. We need to blow this joint immediately so that we can all go home. Biggs, what's the sit rep on the backup?"

"They'll be here in eight minutes tops…they're getting a transport copter and an escort of two gunships over."

"All right men, we're getting some help! We need only hold for eight minutes, and then we got our reinforcements. Fire in short, controlled bursts…save your ammo! Don't let these foxtrots into this hallway—we need to stall for enough time for Gamma team to finish up."

"Hoo-rah!"

With that, all the men set their assault rifles to burst fire, and began to take careful aim at their targets. There was no way they were going to die here…at least not without taking down as many of these murdering bastards with them…

* * *

The Palace of Wutai…

Vincent sat on the bench at the piano with the microphone in front of him. He had one song in mind at the moment, given the date that this is taking place. "Ladies and gentlemen of the audience…and to any who are listening in on this concert; I'd like to thank you all for being here tonight, and for bringing me over back to Wutai…a land I have not visited for a long time. This event tonight is on the anniversary of the geostigma epidemic—we have all lost people to that horrible disease. People that we cared about…people that we all loved…people that will be missed…and all the children whose dreams have been taken from them…we will remember them all, and may their souls have gone to the afterlife, and their reincarnations be good ones. And so, in order to open this concert tonight, I will be playing a rather beautiful number from The Beatles…I dedicate this in remembrance to all the people we have lost, and to everyone in my tribe—all of whom have been taken by the plague as well…and so here goes…" With that, Vincent began playing a slow and gentle melody on the piano.

_When I find myself in times of trouble__  
__Mother Mary comes to me__  
__Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.__  
__And in my hour of darkness__  
__She is standing right in front of me__  
__Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.__  
__Let it be, let it be.__  
__Whisper words of wisdom, let it be._

_And when the broken hearted people__  
__Living in the world agree,__  
__There will be an answer, let it be.__  
__For though they may be parted there is__  
__Still a chance that they will see__  
__There will be an answer, let it be.__  
__Let it be, let it be. yeah__  
__There will be an answer, let it be._

_And when the night is cloudy,__  
__There is still a light that shines on me,__  
__Shine on until tomorrow, let it be.__  
__I wake up to the sound of music__  
__Mother mary comes to me__  
__Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.__  
__Let it be, let it be.__  
__There will be an answer, let it be.__  
__Let it be, let it be,__  
__Whisper words of wisdom, let it be._

The applause was heard as the first song was finished—many people had tears in their eyes as they remembered everyone that had been taken by the plague. It was an appropriate song for an opening. With that, Vincent got up, and bowed to everyone before leaving the stage for the next act to come up. He would be playing the last song of this performance—he had a minor role, but that was not as important as trying to raise the spirits of his people…

* * *

Elsewhere, 30 minutes later…

Reeve hid in his underground base, with Rufus Shin-Ra next to him, coordinating the logistics operations all over the planet above the noise of people rushing in and patching through everyone to their respective departments regarding the attacks. At the same time, he himself was coordinating the attack on multiple fronts—he had given himself the codename "Cait Sith" after his favorite cartoon character…the annoying little cat that always seemed to avoid the giant mog about to maul and then eat him in most hilarious ways. So far, the attacks have been going smoothly…Lazard had successfully finished his end on the operation—and now they were pulling out. The reinforcements that Rufus had sent arrived just in time to pull them out of trouble before the reactor exploded. So far, out of the twelve reactors erected, four have been destroyed…correction, six now.

The attacks had been continuing for the past half hour now since Reeve received word in that random brawl with Lucrecia to begin the assault, and they were progressing quite well. At this point they were halfway done…six down, six to go…now that everything has been started, the die has been cast—there is now no turning back. They must now see this through all the way…whether in failure or in success, the only way to go now is forward. Reeve knew this, and even Rufus knew this…and so began the destruction of Shin-Ra. Such was the resolve of the men and women who had joined the World Regenesis Organization that they would do whatever it took to bring Shin-Ra to justice for their many crimes against the world for the sake of corporate greed.

"Reeve, should we do it now?"

"Yes, I think now it is about time for the world to know what sort of people they are buying their power from. Broadcast it worldwide."

"Yes sir."

* * *

Mako Reactor 8…Nibelheim…

The entire base had been infiltrated—Tseng and his team of former Shin-Ra black ops specialists had managed to get even closer…sneaking into the base using an incendiary missile attack on the turrets as a diversion. There was no more time to waste—the six-man fire team moved on in through the sewers in the midst of the chaos created by the fires, and due to the fact that stealth is required of this mission, all sound suppressors were mounted on everyone's weapons…and headshots were required.

Tseng's .45 ACP semiautomatic pistol was prepared for just that job. With that, he ordered the rest of his men to stack up as looked around the corner, and saw to his satisfaction, that there were only two guards at the doorway, and a security camera…but there could be more troops waiting in the reactor room, and so he waved for his communications specialist, and brought his thumb across his neck before pointing at the camera. The communications specialist got the message, and brought out an infrared laser before firing the shot silently at the camera in order to disable it, followed by Tseng moving in and firing two rounds into the unfortunate guards' heads. He then waved in for his demolitions expert to come in and place a breaching charge on the door. Once that was done, everyone stacked up by the double-door, as their leader had begun to count with his fingers; 5…4…3…2…1…blow it!

With the press of a button, the doors fragmented into the room, killing several people standing behind them before the rest of the fire teams moved in and brought down many tangos before finding cover, and continuing the firefight until there were no tangos left in the room. "Scar, do it. The rest of Alpha will cover you."

"Sir."

With that, the operative with the code name of Scar moved on in with the appropriate detonation packs, and began the job of rigging the reactor core with the plastic explosive. "Black Raven, we are good to go."

"Good. Now let's get out of here before we press that button."

With that, Tseng and his men had left the area the way they came in, and shortly afterwards, a loud explosion was heard the second they made it to the hilltop overlooking the reactor…the mission was a success!

* * *

Shin-Ra Headquarters…twenty-five minutes later…

This was not good. Almost all of the mako reactor bases have been overtaken and destroyed using the mako reactor cores as the main detonators. And to top things off, evidence of Shin-Ra's involvement in the plague of Wutai had been broadcasted all over the world. He could not contain his rage any longer.

No…this can't be happening! Because of this revelation, now all of the world will be looking for blood…and the destruction of the reactor cores would ensure the destruction of his company via financial losses! "It hurts doesn't it?" asked Lucrecia with a mocking smile, "I'm not religious, but I do believe that there is such a thing as karma; that everything we do always has a consequence. And now the karma of your entire line for what it's done to the world has finally come. The die has finally been cast—there is no escape for you! You will pay for your crimes, and you cannot barter or bribe your way out of this! Not when the entire world now knows of what you did!"

This was too much now! This bitch had planned this whole thing for a while…no matter…if he's going down, then he may as well take her down with him! He opened his drawer, and pulled out a revolver. Lucrecia closed her eyes in anticipation…this was her final punishment, and she was willing to take it. Before she could think anything more on the matter, the sound of glass shattering, and the feeling of something wet hitting her face filled the air. She then opened her eyes, and to her horror, she saw that Old Man Shin-Ra's head was missing with bits of his skull and brain all over the room while the rest of his body was poised to put a .500 S&W round via a revolver through her chest before it slumped to the ground, and rigor mortis took place.

Inwardly, she was sickened by that sight…apparently someone had taken the time to be merciful to her, and let her live…albeit in a disgusting fashion. As she continued looking on at the sight before her, she then heard the sound of her cellular phone ringing. "Hello?" she said into the microphone.

"Is this Lucrecia Crescent?"

"Who are you?"

"Don't bother with that yo, Vincent sent us to keep an eye out on you."

Her eyes had widened in surprise. Why is Vincent going to such lengths to see to it that she survived? "Don't ask me why. He told me and Elena here to kill anyone who wants to kill you in that very room. On a sheet of paper, he said that you're going to be taken to the police station for questioning…we're going to meet you there—he has something to give you apparently."

With that, she heard as the phone hung up…what could it be that Vincent was going to give her?

* * *

Mako Reactor 5…Gongaga…

More gunfire could be heard from outside the room as Delta, Echo, and Foxtrot held their ground—they would be overrun soon. Rude knew this, but before they could go and support them, they had to get everything ready. "Wedge, how much longer?"

"Done! One press of a button, and all the reactors will have been destroyed by then."

"Good work! Now let's go and bloody support those lazy bludgers!"

"Sir, yes sir!"

With that, everyone left the core, and went back the way they came in the middle of a shootout between Shin-Ra and the WRO. "Take cover!" Upon uttering that command, everyone ducked behind the nearest solid object they could find. "Those blighters aren't going to go down so easy…Fair, you and Hendrix go on out and provide covering fire. Delta and Echo, you're with me. We can't afford to lose, so we'll take out their chain of command with a pincer attack! Do you understand soldier?"

"Yes sir!"

"Now, on my mark, open fire…3…2…1!" Fair and Hendrix lifted their miniguns and began firing into the open ground—their mission was to provide suppressive fire while Rude and Delta and Echo teams ran under the cover to flank the enemy commanders…after silently navigating their way through the shadows, the soldiers eventually found their target, and proceeded to turn them all into confetti…the battle was won!

* * *

The Palace of Wutai…

It was time for Vincent to close the concert…and so he walked up to the shamisen and strummed on the strings three times with the plectrum to make sure it was still ready to be played. "Ladies and gentlemen, in order to close this concert, I've decided to play a number from my tribe…it's a traditional song that's been played by many people among the tribes, and especially mothers to their children…well, at least my mother played this for me whenever I couldn't sleep. Anyway, without further ado, I play for you this song…and I shall dedicate this to my mother…gods rest her soul…for with this shamisen in hand, I shall tell the tale of how the Kitsune Tribe was born."

And so the song began—the rhythm told the story as usual. The story was of a man who found a red vixen fox with an injured leg. The fox showed her displeasure, and began barking at the man until she saw that he meant no harm as he took a sturdy stick, and bound it to her hind leg with a strip of cloth from his tunic. With that, the fox took off, never to be seen again…shortly after his encounter, the man encountered a beautiful woman sitting around in his hut. Her clothes told him that she was at least of a high class, and that she must have been a runaway princess of sorts—she simply sat with a kind smile on her face, and assisted the man in his everyday life in such tasks as taking some of the twigs from the firewood he had collected, and making intricate insect cages with them…they were of such high quality that everyone purchased not only the firewood, but also the cages.

It wouldn't be long until the woodcutter fell in love with the woman, and the two of them married, and had a son. Alas, their happiness was not meant to be—for a wizard had appeared at the doorstep of the woodcutter, and asked if he had any knowledge of a demon fox that had been terrorizing the countryside. The woodcutter answered honestly, and said no…he had not encountered a fox of that sort anywhere. The wizard did not believe him, and to his surprise, he found the target he was looking for—the woodcutter's wife had avoided the wizard's attack, and counterattacked…in the end, the wizard died, and the woman shamefully confessed that she was the fox demon that the wizard was looking for, and that she was the same vixen that he had saved. She did all those terrible things because of terrible things done to her in turn…and that he had saved her from an empty life of vengeance…and so she prayed to the Great Spirit Da Chao to turn her into a human woman to pay him back for his kindness; she did not count on falling in love with him and having a child, as well as being happy for once.

As she continued to speak to him, she told him this event had revealed to her that as long as she stayed in the house, he would be in danger, and so she transformed back into a fox after saying her last goodbyes, and left the man she loved and the son she had raised to pay back for her sins of the past. That is how the Kitsune Tribe was born, and why they venerate the fox.

Once the song was finished, the entire audience clapped. Their joy was short-lived when they heard the sound of gunshots from across the auditorium as everyone panicked. "Nobody move," said one of the terrorists, "we're here for one man, and one man alone. Give him to us, and nobody dies…we're here for Vincent Valentine!"

Vincent put down his shamisen, and spoke into the microphone. "What do you people want from me?"

"Just you…Shin-Ra's paying big bucks to have you in their labs alive. And we aim to collect on that big pay check."

"Mercenaries? Very well then…I will come with you…but you'd better wish that nobody dies…the result of such an action would not be pleasant."

The terrorist looked at Vincent with suspicion in his eyes—from what he heard of the man, he was making this easy; too easy in fact. But at the same time, he was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth as Valentine walked down the stage, and up to the man with the gun…and yet, for some reason, this gift horse was walking towards him with an air of killer intent about him…the terrorist leader was just getting the creeps just looking into those crimson-colored eyes of his. After tying his hands together, and throwing a burlap sack over his face, he felt assured as he ordered his men to throw him into the van. But even after he sat down comfortably, that air of murderous intent was still thick in the van…little did they know that someone was tailing them…

* * *

Yuffie may not have been in practice as a ninja anymore, but she was still very much in shape. If those terrorists thought that they would get away with her true love, then they had another thing coming…she was going to bust him free! As she leaped through the trees of her country silently, she was following the van carefully and silently until she saw it shaking from the inside while the driver's pattern was becoming erratic. It was then that she was caught in the middle of an explosion that she saw a most frightening and awe-inspiring sight…in the middle of what was left of the van stood a naked man of some sort with large bat wings on his back over his scapulae as well as a tail. His long hair was raven-colored, and his skin was a brackish midnight blue…were it not for his frightening appearance and the ferocity contained in those red eyes of his, she could have sworn that he was sexy…

* * *

The surviving six terrorists didn't know what to make of this sight before them, and prepared to open fire only to watch as the beast vanished into thin air, and he was found driving his claw-tipped digits into the throat of a man as he screamed while death claimed him. The remaining five terrorists opened fire, only to find that they had peppered the corpse of their colleague with assault rifle rounds before another terrorist had a clawed hand driven from behind him as a thoracic part of his spine and his heart were seen bursting out of his sternum before the hand dropped the objects it had grabbed, and let the man drop to the ground with a hole in his chest before the demon delivered a roundhouse kick to the terrorist behind him with enough force to twist his neck a full 180 degrees. Next, the demon took to the skies using his large wings to avoid more gunfire, and then spotted his next two targets standing next to each other. He dove down, and ripped both their skulls off from their respective necks in one movement before landing, and seeing the last terrorist holding someone hostage—a woman in her early twenties. His gun was pointed at her neck unsteadily as he threatened to kill her—he wasn't very convincing as he was wetting himself.

"S-stay-stay back! Don't c-c-come any closer! O-or I swear to god, I'll kill her! I mean it, I'll kill this fucking Wutai whore if you don't do as I say." The demon simply calmed down, and glared at the terrorist, making perfect eye contact with him. The next thing that happened was that the terrorist was bringing his hand up as if struggling to resist as he placed the pistol to his temple and then pulled the trigger with a look of absolute terror on his face. It was then that the demon slowly walked towards the woman…she didn't know what to do as she was frozen with fear at what she had seen; but what was stranger was the metamorphosis as the demon took his steps towards her before stopping short…by the time the demon was two feet away from her, she instantly recognized the man in front of her. "This was the ultimate secret that my family held…my mother, her father, and every shaman of the Kage Tribe before him had held this secret for as long as they lived," began Vincent, his voice laced with shame against himself, "we are all the direct descendants of the demigod Chaos…and we are granted this power to protect the ones we love…just like Chaos gave his status as a god up to save his beloved huntress, we have surrendered our humanity from the time we are born for the sake of those dear to us. And now that you know this secret Yuffie, now that you know what sort of monster I truly am, do you now detest me?"

Yuffie finally responded with a slap across his cheek. "Monster or not, I will always love you. When are you going to get it into your head? I don't want you because you're a monster…I want you because you're you. You're no monster, and you never will be…and I want to have little baby Vincent Valentines with you because I love you!" With that, she simply jumped up and wrapped her arms around his neck his nudity be damned, she loved this man body, mind, and soul, and nothing is going to take him away from her! Vincent on the other hand couldn't say anything…he simply pulled her in and was about to reciprocate the kiss with as much fire in it as she was about to give him until he noticed someone in the bushes. More terrorists?

As he watched, he noted that the forms in the shadows were members of the different tribes—he could tell by their red eyes. "So you have finally returned," said the voice of an old woman from behind him, "it's about time the prophecy was fulfilled. Had you delayed any further, our dark times would have begun by now."

"I had to learn more about the world outside before I could come back Elder Gui. If I did not learn what it took to be a leader or at least transition from a boy to a man first, then I could not face coming back here. But now I am ready…if you will have me."

"And we will young one, for your music had inspired us to come together…to unite as one nation. As of today, we shall all be leaving the reservations, and with your guidance, we shall found a new home. But before we can do anything, we are here for one thing…"

With that, Yuffie was gently pulled away from Vincent as the old woman stepped aside, and knelt down chanting in prayer as a teenage boy and girl with sage brushes and buckets of purified water with a materia orb in each stepped forth, and dipped the brushes in the water before flinging it at Vincent. Shortly after, those tribesmen present followed Elder Gui in prayer, as the water that was splashed on Vincent's naked body glowed a bright white light, before the chanted prayer stopped suddenly, and a pillar of light shot up into the sky before it faded away, and his tattoo had expanded, as the black lines went from the base of each wing, went up to cross his shoulders where it joined with his neck, and then it finally ended with a hollow circle in the middle of his chest, where the two lines joined together.

"Hei Tian Shi, last son of the Kage Tribe," said Elder Gui, walking towards Vincent as he turned to face her, "You are hereby recognized as a shaman by the gods, and so you are to lead us all in these dark times. You are our light, and so you must guide us to the true path. Do you accept these responsibilities?"

"I do."

"Then we as the people of the decimated tribes, witnesses to this great event, hereby name you leader!"

With that, everyone cheered. Their spirits were lifted, and now they had a leader—one who had travelled the world and experienced everything. Yuffie didn't know why, but she felt some sort of pride for the man before her, and so she smiled and watched as he walked towards her and then locking with her in a fiery kiss...

* * *

Midgar Police Department, Precinct 45…three hours later…

Those set of directions were right on the dot…she would be questioned by the police, and her alibi was actually solid. Surely that man on the phone won't be showing up… "Why there you are!" said a voice behind her, "I was waiting like hours for you to leave the pigs." As she turned, she saw a man with red hair finishing off at a glass of beer with a blond woman sitting across from him.

He then reached into his pocket, and pulled out an envelope. "And I suppose this is for you. And with that madam…I bid you farewell." It was then that the two of them paid their bill, and tipped the waiter before they left…and Lucrecia sat down at their seat. She then proceeded to open the envelope, and started reading its contents.

"Dear Lucrecia,

If you're reading this, then I take it that Reno had done my favor, and you are still alive. I want you to know that I wanted you to live—I wanted you to see this path you have forged for yourself, and walk on your own two feet onto that path. It would have been a waste if you died upon finally finding your way in life after my assistance in being there for you, and so I had Reno take up my request and protect you. And so, while you continue on in your journey in life, I bid you farewell until we meet again in the Lifestream.

Also, there is another thing I'd like to share with you…the secret to eternal life lies in the discovery of a most profound truth; everything in this world came from nothing, and we all eventually return to nothingness…however, once you have found this truth, your memory will be eternal as you will have attained true enlightenment. I attained my enlightenment when I first met Tifa—when I first discovered that family is not tied by the blood but by the bonds you share with another person. How you attain enlightenment is up to you, but once you find it, you will be free from desire…free from want…and free from death…in the hearts and minds of everyone you've touched since you've become enlightened, you will be immortal, even if you are not related to a shaman and cannot attain the immortality we can.

I wish you a most pleasant journey,

Vincent

P.S. If all goes well in my concert, then I will probably be taking up the responsibility I've been preparing for…I will write to you and Minami often, and I will try my best to see you two."

Lucrecia cried. She already knew how much damage she had done, and so she did not deserve to be with Vincent again—however, as long as he is happy, she will be as well…so long as he comes to see the two of them often. With the destruction of Shin-Ra, she saw that this was an opportunity for a clean slate—she will start repairing the damages she had wrought, starting with the ones she had inflicted on Minami by first divorcing Hojo, and then repairing their relationship as mother and daughter…

* * *

_**A/N: After this is the epilogue…**_

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_**Songs Played:**_

"_**Let it Be" by The Beatles**_

"_**The Last Spartan" by Martin O'Donnell: Vincent at the ritual**_

"_**Skyline" by Martin O'Donnell: The assaults at the reactors**_

"_**Sakon Shima Theme" by Hideyuki Fukusawa: Chaos attacks**_

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_**Vocabulary**_

_**Kitsune—Japanese for 'fox'**_


	12. Ten Years After

_**A/N: This is a time skip—'nuff said…read and review would you kindly?**_

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Ten years later…

The blues of the ocean and the sky…the shimmering of the sea…oh, it was so beautiful. If only Yuffie were not tranquilized due to her trouble with motion sickness, she probably would have enjoyed it. It's been ten years since the events in the jungles of Wutai that led to his founding of the Hagakure village many miles south of the capital of the Kisaragi Empire. Now that it had been established, the tribe had been prospering under one new nation—trade had flourished, and the people of the Empire were welcome as the alliance between the independents and the Kisaragi Empire was finally fulfilled some twenty years later. Today, Vincent was coming to meet with Reeve Tuesti again…it had been a long time since he saw the man, and he admired his work as an engineer and a leader. He was sent out as an ambassador to Wutai, and as a representative of his people formerly of the independent tribes and Yuffie as a representative of the Empire. It was a good thing that they were landing because he wanted to see his wife happy and bouncing around again.

"Daddy, where are we going?" asked a little girl standing by his leg. Her sister and big brother were standing near her on the airship. Ten years ago, Vincent had taken his proper name and used this ample amount of time to successfully be a leader to his people while also actually being a father to his new triplets—Grimoire Valentine, Hitomi, and Chiyo. The boy, Grimoire was the oldest of the triplets, and was named in honor of Tian Shi's foster father…the younger sisters Hitomi and Chiyo were named after two very good friends that Yuffie lost to the plague.

"We're going to see a man I've made friends with a long time ago Hitomi," he answered, as he picked up his youngest daughter by the armpits and looking into her red eyes that had flecks of brown in them, "we're going to tell him that your grandpa and I have decided to help him out with fixing up the world…whatever it is that he's going to ask of us…and to also discuss how the trade agreements are going to work."

Grimoire looked up at his father. "Are we going to see da jie?"

"It's more than likely we will. Lucrecia's helping with research and I hear that she's out of school this time of year."

"Do you think we'll see our dad?" It was Yuri that spoke this time. She was told of what happened between her mother and Reno due to a slip…needless to say, the twins were not happy with what their father did to their mother. But they didn't care—they did care that Yuffie was happy; even today, Yuffie teases Tian Shi by blaming the slip on him…and he teases back with a threat to not cook her any breakfast in bed.

"I'm pretty sure we're going to see him too—last I heard he's working with top-secret stuff. Do you think the two of you are ready to see him?"

"I don't know Vincent," said Jake, "after what he did to mom, I really don't know what to think."

"You kids remember what I said to Minami about hating your parents right?"

The three children and the two teens paused, and all recited at the same time—with some degree of annoyance in their voices. "Do not say you hate someone unless you really mean it, because when you say you hate your parents, it's the same as saying you hate yourself."

"Good. I'm glad we have an understanding."

He then sighed as he continued to look outside the airship while the kids gathered around him. The view overlooking the world below was breathtaking, despite no longer being over the ocean—and his destination was up ahead…in ten years, Midgar had come a long way from being a slum city as the slums themselves were being eaten away be the boom in the economy. In the place of run-down ramshackle motels and boxes for the bums stood brand-new hotels and houses started appearing—from what he had recalled hearing, many of the bums were picked up from the street and essentially conscripted with pay for working on the construction projects so long as they had skill in construction and or engineering. Ever since Reeve Tuesti had taken power, the emergence of a middle class had been possible thanks to his stand as president of the organization, and to Rufus Shin-Ra donating his skills as an economist to the cause.

Yes, ever since the WRO took power, things have been getting better—from what Tian Shi had heard in the whispers of the planet, the destruction of the Mako reactors had extended the duration of the Lifestream's flow, as well as accelerating it. In order to replace the power that Mako produced, such alternatives as dam-based hydroelectric plants and windmill generators were found to be cheaper than and just as effective as the Mako reactors. In addition to that, crime rates were lowered thanks to the WRO under Lazard's command. Rude, Reno, Tseng, and Elena all got together to form the new Turk unit with Tseng as the leader—their specialty, in addition to intelligence-gathering, was counterterrorism.

As to Tifa and Cloud, the business at the bar was getting better and Tifa and Denzel found themselves less lonelier whenever Cloud had to make a long-distance delivery…for a year before the triplets were born, young Maya Strife came into the world—she was like her mother with her wine-colored eyes, and her father's spirit in them. Thankfully, she didn't inherit Cloud's mess of short spiky hair, but a more tamed version of it…she, like Minami, had received letters from her dear uncle from overseas, and she always wrote back…Tifa and Cloud however, planned to visit Wutai to see him this summer, which was good for a family reunion, given that Minami was also on her way with Lucrecia in tow.

The view was getting closer to the airport as Vincent walked into the cabin, and woke Yuffie with a kiss. She was enjoying every second of it. "Hmmm…if that's supposed to be my wake-up alarm, then I don't ever want to wake up."

"We've arrived."

"Oh Tian, you party-pooper…okay…looks like it's time to get to work."

"Do you think you're going to be all right in front of Lucrecia? I noted that tense air between you last time you both met…no, scratch that, I noted that tense air and the bruised cheek you gave her upon first meeting her."

"I'm sorry Tian…I now know that she did what she did to protect you and Minami, but I actually felt better when I punched her…she didn't seem to want to fight back."

"She still feels bad for what she did to the two of us, so it's a given that she didn't do so. So, are you ready to meet with new people?"

"Always."

"Don't look so glum. I'll take you and the kids to that new amusement park I've heard about before we leave…I know you've wanted to go there since that fiasco with the last sitter."

"Hey! I honestly thought she was stealing!"

"Yuffie, nobody would want to steal your clothes from you…well, present company excluded of course."

"Are you serious?"

"After the meeting tonight…if things go well that is."

"Knowing you, then it's likely they will."

With that, the Imperial family of Wutai got up, dressed in their regal clothes, and walked with their children to the limousine provided…they had a whole new world to make for the next generation…

* * *

_**A/N: Thank-you oh-so-kindly to everyone who had read and reviewed…you've all been a good help so far…**_

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_**Songs Played:**_

"_**Ten Years After" by Chihiro Yonekura—this is the song that this story is named after.**_

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_**Vocabulary**_

_**Da jie—Mandarin for 'big sis', but 'jie jie' is fine too…

* * *

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_**Preview!!! This is the first few paragraphs of a new work in progress...ideas for titles would be lovely...**_

Yuffie looked on from the wrought-iron gates at the decrepit old mansion; she had been dared to go and see if the rumors of a monster living in there were true. Damn Reno and his fucking stupid triple-dog double-dare…I mean were it not for the fact that he was her boyfriend she would have refused him on the spot. And her instincts were saying 'nuh-uh…no way…no freakin' way…nope…not gonna go inside that mansion…it looks old and scary and dusty and…and…oh to hell with it, I'm not going in there!'

"Don't tell me you're chickening out yo!" He said from behind her—oh he was taunting her…well she's not going to fall for that! No sir! "Come on, I thought you were the White Rose of Wutai or something like that yo! I thought you ninjas weren't scared of anything like that…or…could it be…that you're afraid of ghosts?"

That did it…she was going to go in. She replaced her fear with hurt pride and anger, and jumped up the gates to walk onto the steps. With each step towards the mansion, she found it harder and harder to fight off this feeling that she was being watched…as if the house had a will of its own and was daring her to walk on in. There was nothing to it…she looked around the mansion, and found a broken window—a likely place to enter. She carefully stuck her hand into the hole, and silently crept in. Her ninja training had kicked in, and so she moved as quietly as a cat—and she continued to look through the mansion, looking here and there for the monster. She checked every room in the bottom floor—there was nothing…and then she checked the second floor—nothing of interest except for a journal and a small box with a materia orb in it…a strange-looking thing, it wasn't like anything she had seen before. Well, since she's here, she may as well take something of value…looting wasn't exactly something she felt pleasant doing, but the kleptomaniac in her was screaming at her to take it…whispering in such a torturous and seductive tone with the words 'finders keepers, losers weepers!' Well, she is a finder, and of course, nobody was going to miss it seeing as this pretty little thing was found in some abandoned old mansion, and she may as well take some reading material with her.

She then packed the stuff she found in her bag, and started leaving…oh she was going to prove to Reno that there was nothing in that mansion now!


End file.
